Ongoing at-sea tests of the most advanced and expensive destroyer ever, the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), have exposed an unexpected problem. Perceived as a medium-sized fishing boat on radars, its sheer size shocks ill-prepared fishermen when it approaches.
Maine lobsterman Lawrence Pye experienced the “Zumwalt effect” for himself. He saw something that appeared on his radar screen to be a 15-meter fishing boat, but it materialized into a gigantic 186-meter warship. The destroyer was returning to the Bath Iron Works shipbuilding yard after a series of sea trials.
“It’s pretty mammoth when it’s that close to you,” the Associated Press cited Pye as saying.
It appears highly unlikely that the USS Zumwalt could actually run into any vessel. The destroyer’s advanced radars ensure it can dodge any collision. Yet for other ships that might encounter the man-of-war, its true appearance could be quite a surprise in many respects.
Though it is the size of a WW1-era battleship, the Zumwalt’s futuristic, angular-shaped design aimed at deflecting radar waves, its composite deckhouse, low-noise electric propulsion and stealth coating combine to make the DDG-1000 50 times harder to detect, program manager Captain James Downey said.
To get a better idea of exactly how stealthy the ship really is, the USS Zumwalt’s sea trials in March were dedicated to testing the ship’s radar signature with and without reflective material hoisted on its halyard, Downey said.
The reflectors positioned on the Zumwalt were metal cylinders similar to those used by other ships in case of fog or poor visibility in bad weather conditions, in order to augment the vessel’s radar signature and save civilian captains from heart attacks.
The Zumwalt will be undergoing more tests in 2016 before being handed over to the US Navy. Yet even after being commissioned in October in Baltimore, the ship will continue testing before becoming fully operational in 2018.
However, the Zumwalt has already performed a rescue operation. Last December, a Coast Guard rescue helicopter was unable to evacuate fisherman Dale Sparrow, who had suffered a heart attack. The Zumwalt that happened to be nearby made for Sparrow’s boat and took the man on board.
https://www.rt.com/usa/339312-zumwalt-destroyer-too-stealthy/
I wonder how much microwave radiation that small fishing vessel was exposed to from the battleships radar? I hope it was not broadcasting near the U. S. coast.
I would think that there could not be anyone on deck if the radars were broadcasting.
Another question.
Wouldn’t the radars if broadcasting be a beacon in the sea exposing its location?
Our carrier use to “go dark” and only turn on certain lights so as to look like a tanker or cargo ship.
Seems like they are already playing with the idea of making it look like any ship it wants to while on radar.
My intent was if the ship is broadcasting mega-watts of microwave radiation from it’s radar, the ship should be easy to find by other radars.
so long as you have more than 1 radar reception antenna.
radar does not necessarily see other radars. It emits and listens for itself over time. You would need microwave freq reception antenna. And then 4 or more to get a true azimuth reading. 4 dimentions not 1.
My plane(in the navy) had … a few … receiving antennas for each band. They pointed out in many direction. The computer could tell the length of time from one antenna to the next and weigh that vs. the amplitude. Then account for airspeed vs. ground track and elevation. It even accounted for barometric, air density and temp to ensure accuracy. All to get you to within a few inches at hundreds of miles out. and that was the passive side 🙂
but you had to know what for and where abouts to look. Not easy.
It probably uses a lot of passive radar from external sources.
You can use your imagination to guess the sources of this external radar frequency emissions.