Patent ID: 7219613

Claim:
A marine vessel comprising: an upper hull; a mission module bay, wherein said mission module bay is defined as an opening in said upper hull in the form of a cut-out; a first propulsion hull, wherein said first propulsion hull remains at least partially submerged when said marine vessel is in water; a first reconfigurable, segmented strut, wherein said first strut couples said first propulsion hull and said upper hull to each other; a removable mission module, wherein said mission module is disposed within said mission module bay, and wherein a top and two sides of said removable mission module are substantially continuous with a top and two sides of said upper hull when disposed in said mission module bay, thereby filling said cut-out portion of said upper hull; a mission bay, wherein said mission bay is disposed in said first propulsion hull, and wherein said mission bay is a storage volume for containing deployable mission payloads selected from the group consisting of underwater sensors, portable equipment, and countermeasures; and a first wheel assembly and a second wheel assembly, wherein said first wheel assembly and second wheel assembly are: (1) disposed in said first propulsion hull; (2) operable to deploy from said first propulsion hull; and (3) operable to partially rotate about a vertical axis enabling lateral movement of said marine vessel with zero turning radius.