Patent ID: 7278364

Claim:
A reconfigurable marine vessel having a small waterplane area twin hull form, the marine vessel comprising: an upper hull having internally-stowable and deployable weapons and sensors and a removable mission module that forms a portion of the upper hull; two lower hulls that are capable of providing substantially all of the buoyancy required for the marine vessel, wherein the marine vessel does not utilize dynamic lift; two articulated struts for coupling the lower hulls to the upper hull, wherein the articulated struts comprise at least two segments that are operable to move out-of-plane relative to one another and that enable reconfiguration of the marine vessel between three primary configurations, wherein the primary configurations include: (a) a cruise and surveillance configuration, wherein the articulated struts are extended downward and outward from the upper hull; (b) a minimum draft configuration, wherein the articulated struts are laterally extended relative to the upper hull; and (c) a launch/recovery configuration, wherein the articulated struts are folded such that the two segments of the struts are substantially parallel to one another; a ballasting system for providing a desired amount of buoyancy to the marine vessel, wherein the ballasting system is operable to enable the marine vessel to change its draft while in the cruise and surveillance configuration between a minimum draft mode wherein a portion of the two lower hulls are not submerged and a maximum draft mode wherein a portion of the upper hull is submerged; and a propulsion system, wherein the propulsion system is contained in the two lower hulls.