HSV-2 Swift

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HSV-2 Swift is a hybrid catamaran. She was privately owned and operated by Sealift, and was originally built under the JHSV program as a proof of concept. As part of this program, she was directly leased for evaluation from her builder Incat by the United States Navy Military Sealift Command from 2003 to 2013, primarily as a mine countermeasures and sea basing test platform. Later during her official naval career she was mostly used for fleet support and humanitarian partnership missions. In July 2015, the ship was leased by the United Arab Emirates National Marine Dredging Company and was used to carry aid through the Bab Al Mandab strait. On 1 October 2016, the ship was attacked and damaged off the coast of Yemen by Iranian-backed rebel Houthis, who at the time claimed to have sunk the ship. According to unnamed Department of Defense officials, the ship was damaged and was being towed to Eritrea. The vessel sustained serious damage to its bow, but remained afloat. The ship is a wave-piercing, aluminum-hulled, commercial catamaran with military enhancements, such as a helicopter flight deck, vehicle deck, small boat and unmanned vehicle launch and recovery capability, and a communications suite. She features a new, modular design, which will allow her to be refitted to support missions without requiring long shipyard periods.