Shipbucket

While reading a book I got from work I came across a picture of this vessel and finding it interesting I decided to do a bit more research in order to draw it for the archive.

The SSP (Semi-Submerged Platform) Kaimalino was the first US Navy SWATH ship. She designed by Naval Undersea Center Hawaii as the culmination of several years work on the SWATH concept. Built in 1973 by the USCG Yard in Maryland.As built she displaced only 193 tons. She was powered by a pair of gas turbines with auxiliary diesels. Entering service in 1975, the Kaimalino lived up to the hopes of her designers in proving the validity of their initial research. As a research vessel she was ideal, offering a stable platform which could be easily reconfigured for different oceanographic research thanks to her large deck. The following year in 1976 she saw her first refit, with the forward of her port hull replaced with a plexiglass dome for underwater observation. A more comprehensive refit came in 1980 which brought an increase in displacement to 228 tons. In 1981, with the temporary addition of a platform to cover the hole in her deck, she became a contender for the smallest "aircraft carrier" ever built when she conducted trials with a SH-2 helicopter demonstrating operations at speeds of up to 25 knots. In the mid 1990s she was transferred from her longtime home at NUC Hawaii to NOSC in San Diego where she lived for several years. At some point, I'm unsure of when she was moved back to Hawaii and was eventually transferred to the University of Hawaii in 2004. Following this information is scant and as of 2014 which is the most recent picture I found of her she seems to be laid up in a rather decrepit state.


I drew her circa 1981 around the time of her helicopter trials. She wore a a couple of other liveries over the years and saw various equipment fitted and removed from her deck, I plan on going back and drawing some of them if I can find better images as most of the ones I found were port views and I'm unsure if the schemes were symmetrical or not.

Very interesting and well done!

Excellent work, love seeing these lesser known experimental vessels.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft