How a ‘Ghost’ boat cruises on a tunnel of bubbles

In Hong Kong, they’re so dangerous, that seafood restaurants store them live inside empty plastic water bottles so they can be handled.

The mantis shrimp — a sea crustacean that resembles a praying mantis — has a set of claws that accelerate so fast when it strikes that they create air bubbles which, when they explosively collapse, also serve to stun the mantis’s prey.

Supersonic potential

The effect is known in physics as supercavitation and marine engineers are taking their cue from the humble mantis shrimp to create objects that, theoretically, at least, could one day travel underwater at supersonic speeds.

The principle works on the fact that when an object traveling through the water is encased in bubbles, there is little to no friction or drag.

Already the Russians have used supercavitation in the design of their torpedoes; the VA-111 Shkval torpedo flies through the water encased in a bubble, achieving speeds in excess of 200 knots (230 mph).

Inquiries have also been coming in from commercial shipping companies — an industry that loses thousands of shipping containers a year to bad weather — about adapting the technology to create highly stable cargo ships.

Offshore oil platforms, too, have been interested in a technology that can deliver oil crews quickly, safely and without seasickness.

Despite this, Sancoff says the first interest for Juliet Marine is to create a military vessel that is fast enough to protect a fleet from swarm attacks and stable enough to deliver troops safely in rough seas.

“If you want to deliver those 16 Navy SEALs or Royal Marines to that beach in rough water and you want them to get out of that boat almost boot-dry, we have that platform.

“We can get the warrior to where he needs to go, fit to fight and not beaten up from the 20G impact that some of these guys are getting in high-speed boats.

“High-speed boats are really beating the heck out of these guys.”

CNN