The last group
to charter the Millenium was surely the polar opposite of the typical tourists
who will ride the high-speed ferry when it begins making its normal rounds from
Quonset Point to Martha’s Vineyard in June.
Throughout the third week of May, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center and Systems
Engineering Associates Corp. of Middletown conducted tests on a new missile
launcher system in the shallow waters of Narragansett Bay.
Using payloads shaped like torpedoes (although completely inert), the mock
projectiles were launched from the ferry with the aid of standard car air bags.
Occasionally reaching its top speed of nearly 45 mph, launches were made from
the 125-foot ferry at different speeds and angles in an effort to evaluate the
effects on impressions left in the sand; cranes were then retrieving the shapes
for further analysis.
Tests of the new launcher concept, which could be adapted to a variety of
payloads and launch conditions, were also being used to determine the effects
a countermeasure against the torpedoes could have from a variety of distances.
Founded in 1981, SEA CORP is a veteran-owned small business that focuses on
systems engineering, software, and test and evaluation services. Its core business
is providing submarine electronic systems to the U.S. Navy, along with utilizing
a product development team to pursue new products and emerging technologies.
A helicopter and several Navy vessels assisted in documenting the tests on
the bay, which were performed north of Gould Island in a secure area. Before
the most recent rounds of tests, the system had been tested on payloads from
17 pounds to 850 pounds and ranging in diameter from a few inches to more than
a foot.
A Rhode Island Fast Ferry boat was chartered for the tests.
