#PJNET U.S. #Navy Allowed to Use Persian Gulf Laser for Defense

By: Sam LaGrone

Navy's future: Electric guns, lasers, water as fuel

By Brad Lendon, CNN updated 2:10 PM EDT, Thu April 10, 2014 | Filed under: Innovations

The USS Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy's newest warship, floats out of dry dock Monday, October 28, in Bath, Maine. The first of the new DDG-1000 class of destroyers, it will be the Navy's largest stealthy ship when it begins missions.

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U.S. Navy's new stealth destroyer

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Railgun prototype fires missiles at 7.5 times the speed of sound
• Laser weapon costs about $1 a shot
• Lab says it can make fuel from seawater
• High-tech destroyer to be christened Saturday

(CNN) -- Imagine ships that fire missiles at seven times the speed of sound without using explosives, or that use lasers to destroy threats at the cost of about a dollar a shot, and vessels making fuel from the very seawater in which they're floating.

That's the glimpse of the high-tech future the U.S. Navy gave this week. And these aren't just ideas. They've all been shown to work to some degree.

Saturday, the Navy will christen its most advanced warship ever, the destroyer USS Zumwalt, which may one day be using these new technologies.

The Zumwalt, which was launched last year and is to be christened at Bath Iron Works in Maine, is the Navy's first stealth destroyer. At 610 feet long and 80 feet wide, it's about 100 feet longer and 20 feet wider than ships in the Navy's current fleet of Arleigh Burke class destroyers, but the canopy and the rest of the Zumwalt is built on angles that help make it 50 times harder to spot on radar than an ordinary destroyer.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/tech/innovation/navy-new-technology/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5

Navy SEALS board, take control of rogue Libya tanker

Navy SEALs have boarded and taken command of an oil tanker that was seized by three armed men at a Libyan port earlier this month, thwarting an attempt by a splinter militia group from selling nationalized Libyan oil on the black market.  

A Pentagon spokesman said that the operation was carried out Sunday night on orders from President Obama in international waters southeast of Cyprus, at the request of the Libyan and Cypriot governments. There were no casualties. The USS Roosevelt provided an embarkation point for the SEALs as well as helicopter support and served as a command and control and support platform. 

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/17/navy-seals-board-take-control-rogue-libya-tanker/