Courtesy of Pacific Marine & Supply Co.
Pacific Marine & Supply's SLICE vessel can
reach speeds of 30 knots.

Pacific Marine
seeks SLICE
of military’s
ship business

The isle-built vessel doubles
as a floating command center
and logistics supply ship

By Jerry Tune
Star-Bulletin

Pacific Marine & Supply Co. has sent its $14.5 million SLICE demonstrator vessel to San Diego where it will be evaluated by the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory for potential use as a floating command center and a logistics supply ship.

The 105-foot-long SLICE vessel can travel at 30 knots.

"It's an exciting opportunity to showcase the technology to a key potential military customer," Steven Loui, Pacific Marine president, said in a news release. "We've also been pursuing commercial customers.

"Last year, we chartered the vessel to Raytheon, ITT and other Fortune 500 defense contractors looking for a stable, high-speed vessel to carry various communications and scientific research packages. We'd like to create a high-tech shipbuilding industry here in Hawaii."

The SLICE ship will spend two months with the First Marine Expeditionary Force and the U.S. Third Fleet, serving as a Marine Corps near-shore experimental operations command and communications center. The SLICE also has been outfitted with a helicopter landing pad to test its capability to carry and deliver supplies to shore forces.

The 180-ton SLICE was developed and built in Hawaii for the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research by Pacific Marine subsidiary, Navatek Ships Ltd., in partnership with Lockheed Martin Corp.

The SLICE ship is based on the Swath (Small waterplane area twin hull) ship technology, used by the Navatek passenger cruise ships in Hawaii.