Ships

Real photos. Real ship. Real location. What's not real is confirmation that it's an operational weapons platform. History has shown why blurring civilian and military lines is dangerous.

The Trump administration has announced that it wants to build a new class of battleships. But this is just one element of the Golden Fleet –a larger program of naval reform aimed at a major transformation of the US Navy and its strategy.

The end of the Age of the Battleship appears to have been called prematurely as the Trump administration, as part of its Golden Fleet US Navy reform, says it is reviving the giant battlewagons in the form of 35,000-tonne Trump-class battleships.

It may resemble a minimalist aluminum catamaran with Cybertruck overtones, but BlackSea Technologies’ Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC), being offered to the US Navy as a multi-mission autonomous warship, has more to it than meets the eye.

What will the Royal Navy's amphibious strike force of the future look like? Design consultancy BMT Group has its own answer as it unveils Ellida Strike concept multi-role strike vessel designed to put combat troops ashore without port facilities.

Old Nazi warheads and US warships have been reclaimed by a new army of diverse marine life, as scientists for the first time uncover how nature has made use of the munitions and fleets that ended up dumped in waterways during the two world conflicts.

China is going full Jules Verne as it prepares to go where no drill has gone before. As part of its Deep Ocean Drilling Program, the special-built Meng Xiang (梦想号, "Dream") drill ship is gearing up for a multi-year effort to pierce the Earth's crust.

The air at sea might be getting a bit cleaner as technology group Wärtsilä puts its Carbon Capture Solution (CCS) system on the market. The modular apparatus is claimed to capture as much as 70% of the CO2 emissions from cargo ship exhaust systems.

Autonomous warships have moved into the large fast-attack league as Eureka Naval Craft announces what it describes as the most advanced autonomous naval attack vessel in the world. It can carry 40 tonnes and reach speeds of up to 50 knots.

DARPA has launched a new prototype warship for the US Navy that not only won't need any sailors, it can't even accommodate them. The 180-ft (55-m), 240-tonne No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) put to sea last month ahead of sea trials.

UK-based Core Power has announced that it plans to mass produce a fleet of floating nuclear power plants (FNPPs) using advanced reactor design and modular shipbuilding to be anchored off the US coast in about 10 years.

Although autonomous, uncrewed ships are now being trialled, those vessels still need human workers to moor them when they come into port. That could soon change, however, thanks to a new automated suction-based mooring system.