Surface effect ship

The first version of the XR-1 used fixed plywood seals at the fore and aft ends of the captured air bubble section.

A separate 110 hp (82 kW) gas engine was used to drive lift fans, and also to power out-drive units that were used for off-cushion slow-speed maneuvering.

Their eventual goal was to develop a 3000-ton (3,050 tonne) SES, the LSES (Large Surface Effect Ship) or 3KSES, capable of utilizing vertical launch missile systems and anti-submarine helicopters & various VTOL aircraft.

[4] achieved speeds in excess of 96 knots (178 km/h; 110 mph) in the Gulf of Mexico outside St. Andrews Bay in Panama City, Florida.

The 100A ship was used to test waterjet propulsion, variable geometry inlets and automatic ride control systems.

The 100-ton SES 100B was built for the US Navy as a 1/10 scale model to test the feasibility of using hovercraft and other Surface Effect Ships in combat situations.

Unlike the hard sidewall SES's, the full skirted AALCs, JEFF A&B were the prototype vehicles for the LCAC's used by the Navy with such success in the Persian Gulf War[citation needed].

The SES has rigid side hulls that enclose the air cushion, permitting water propulsion but allowing it to only go to the shore when conducting amphibious operations.

Design concepts for a 6000-plus-ton cargo SES's that Rohr and Ingalls Shipbuilding proposed relied on the idea of the ship loading and unloading from beach, lighter, causeway or conventional dock facilities.

Vessel was 14500-ton, 140m long powered by 2×LM2500 engines The Soviet Navy built two 1050-ton Bora-class surface effect corvettes in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Umoe Mandal built 9 Alta and Oksøy class surface effect vessels for mine warfare for the Royal Norwegian Navy.

HSwMS Smyge, which acted as a small-scale pre-prototype testbed for the Visby-class corvette is now used as a training platform for Swedish Amphibious Corps Clearance divers.