--- title: "The Perfect Stealth Boat...that the US Navy Didn't Want" description: "It was deemed the most exciting and impressive innovation in marine technology since the submarine was invented. Nicknamed \"the ghost\", it promised stealth, speed, and a brand-new propulsion system previously unseen before on military watercraft. This wasn't just some new boat, this was the next stage in maritime combat's evolution, meant to fix one glaring problem that could have led to the destruction of the US Navy as we know it.\n\nBut what disastrous event led to the creation of this engineering marvel? How did it promise to change the game? And why then, over 20 years since it was first conceived of, has it still not started sailing on our waters today? This is the boat so advanced that the US Navy didn't want it.\n\n## Do You Believe in Ghosts?\n\nThis is the Juliet Marine Systems \"Ghost\". It's a highly advanced, stealth-capable warship that has been in and out of development with the US Navy for almost two decades. And it's unlike anything you've ever seen or even heard of before.\n\nThe Ghost is known as a SWATH, which stands for \"Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull\"—this just means that it basically has two pontoons that drive the vessel through the water, and in case you haven't noticed, it also looks like a spaceship. Seriously, this catamaran of doom looks like it should be pod-racing on Tatooine, not the Persian Gulf. With its menacing angular structure and all-grey military exterior, this thing seems to be telling everyone who can see it, \"we're coming to kill you.\"\n\nAnd that's actually an issue. \"Those who can see it\" isn't exactly a high number. The angular design of the Ghost is actually an attempt to help its stealth capabilities. The designers took partial inspiration from stealth-capable aircraft like the legendary Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk to ensure it's extremely hard for enemies to pick it up on either radar or sonar. It has a low profile, it has fewer windows to minimise its signature even further, and it's not that large to begin with, at 18.9 metres (or 62 feet) long.\n\nIts hull is mainly constructed from aluminium and steel, making it lightweight and resistant to the corrosive properties of the saltwater it would ultimately operate in. This also provides some protection for the crew. The Ghost has a range of 563–805 kilometres (about 350–500 miles) as well, meaning it can haunt enemies from relatively far away.\n\nUp front we've got a cockpit that looks like the inside of a spaceship to match the outside. Behind the cockpit is a cargo area that is capable of holding up to 16 passengers, and a three to five strong crew on top of that, or a payload, all loadable from a hull door at the stern. That bridge allows the operators of the vessel to sit behind a five centimetre, or two-inch-thick, ballistic windscreen to deal with small arms fire—this thing is designed to get up close and personal.\n\nBut we're beating around the bush. That's all pretty cool, it's sleek, it's stealthy, and it's pretty well defended. But the standout design feature of the Ghost is how it moves through the water. Those pontoons aren't just for show.\n\nInside of those buoyant pontoons, on each side at the end of the struts, is a pair of 1800 horsepower gas-powered turboshaft engines, but it has been reported that such engines may one day be replaced with a pair of General Electric T700 turboshaft engines.\n\nAnd the staggering design of how these pontoons move the boat through the water is the innovation that makes this thing so remarkable. When the Ghost is in shallow water, these pontoons stay flat and the ship sits in the water at its centreline, resulting in that low profile we were talking about earlier, but when it wants to go at speed, the wings attached to the pontoons reconfigure into a more vertical position, lifting the Ghost almost out of the water entirely as it skims across the surface.\n\nBut to recognise the true genius of this design, we need to understand the drawbacks of modern fast watercraft like speedboats. Traditionally fast speedboats skip over the top of the water from their speed thanks to an engine at the back of the boat. The trouble with this is that it can lead to wave hopping. Almost anybody who has been on a fast boat will tell you that every time you hit the water going at speed like that, it's a bit like being inside the maracas of a particularly enthusiastic mariachi player. And if you're a soldier it's not like the military designs things for comfort—you are essentially getting beaten up by the boat you're in. This can make it difficult for some fast attack craft to do things like engage an enemy at speed; there just isn't the stability.\n\nAnd that's where the Juliet Ghost plays the ace up its sleeve. Those engines on the front of the pontoons have little propellors on them that counter-rotate, keeping the fully-submerged pontoons stable in the water, but this also lets the Ghost take advantage of a unique scientific phenomenon called \"super-cavitation\".\n\nThe propellors under the water can form a tunnel of fast-moving air bubbles behind the propellors, which has a lower drag than dense water does as it has a lower pressure and resistance. Its engines are basically always travelling through a column of foam. So this thing doesn't even really sail—it would be more apt, considering how much of the boat is actually out of the water at speed, to say that it flies.\n\nAnd this makes the craft very fast. It can travel at 30 knots (or 55 kilometres per hour) but Juliet Marine are confident that the vessel could get up to 70 knots in ideal conditions, that's about 130 kilometres an hour.\n\nAnd because the main propulsion elements of the vessel are submerged under the water, the only part of the boat that encounters the waves are the struts or \"wings\". These by design have an extremely thin leading edge to cut through them, making wave impact minimal.\n\nBut that's not all. You might expect a boat that's barely out of the water with that much speed would be horrible to sail because it would constantly be in danger of aquaplaning and flipping, killing everyone inside, or just creating the world's most uncomfortable experience. But you'd be wrong.\n\nControl at high speed is achieved by using a series of gyro-stabilisation technologies, as well as over 20 underwater control surfaces to maximize the craft's agility. This is all computer-controlled, a little like the electronic control systems in cars that prevent them from slipping off the road. The boat's computers make microsecond calculations from the data they receive to constantly adjust the boat's position in the water without any need for human input. Even the bubble curtain that it makes can be well-managed without the need for specialist equipment like pumps and keeps it stealthy.\n\nThe result of all of this is that this thing doesn't just locomote, it glides across the water like you're sailing on silk. No more getting beaten up by a boat whilst it gets you to your destination at top speeds. Not only that, but the vessel is also capable of operating in wave heights of up to 2.4 m, which is taller than Andre the Giant, and it eats them like it's nothing. Marines who have tested the vessel have said that it's revolutionary just how stable it is at high speeds.\n\nIndeed, the ship's designer, Gregory Sancoff reported to Bloomberg that, quoting here: \"You can sit there and drink your coffee going through six-foot swells.\" A soldier who was tasked with test driving the Ghost purportedly stated that Sancoff was inside the boat during, and that he was able to fall asleep for half of the journey. The only way you're falling asleep in a speedboat is if it knocks you out whilst it bounces your head off its hull.\n\nFor all intents and purposes, this thing is a total marvel of engineering. But that leads to a few questions. Just why did they build it, and why haven't we seen more of it by now?\n\n## When Tragedy Brings Genius\n\nSo why did some private company commit to building a revolutionary new design for a surface vessel that the US Navy could use? And to tell that story, we need to travel back to the turn of the millennium, and revisit a tragedy.\n\nOn October 12th, 2000, the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer was refuelling in the Yemeni port of Aden near the Red Sea, a vital sea route for trade and for military vessels to police that trade, as it goes up and through the Suez Canal. Whilst it was caught off guard, the ship was struck in shallow waters, when two men in a small boat laden with $500 worth of explosives pulled up alongside the Cole and detonated amidships in a suicide attack. It is reported that the two men piloting the vessel had given friendly gestures to several of the crew on the Cole just before they did so. As it turns out they were members of a little terror group called Al-Qaeda, who wouldn't announce themselves to the world fully until the following year on 9/11.\n\nThe blast was powerful, and ripped a hole around 12 metres, that's 40 feet wide in the ship close to its waterline. At the end of it, 17 crewmen of the Cole were confirmed to be dead and 40 more were injured, some of them very badly. This came as a shock to a lot of Americans and military personnel who were stunned that such a basic, radical, and unsophisticated attack could cause such destruction for just $500.\n\nIt also revealed a key security flaw in the US Naval fleet. In 2003, three years after the bombing of the Cole, a wargame named Juliet was carried out to simulate how the US would fare in a scenario where a fleet were being attacked by large numbers of these kinds of small vessels. The simulation saw the US lose 20,000 troops, proving particularly vulnerable to being overwhelmed by the small inexpensive attack craft.\n\nSancoff saw the attack reported and kept tabs on the wargames three years later, and it inspired him to use his brain and wits to solve this problem for the US Navy. He would design a new craft that could ultimately protect the surface fleet from being overrun, and counter its vulnerabilities. He also studied the existing literature on hydroplane racing boats, and got the super-cavitation idea from torpedoes that did the same thing. By 2007, Sancoff had founded Juliet Marine Systems, named after the 600+ page wargame report, and began experimenting with mock-ups of his new ship in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.\n\nSo to understand why this boat was designed this way, you have to look at the problem it was trying to solve. The Juliet report suggests that a small flotilla of fast attack boats could in the wrong circumstances overwhelm US Navy carrier strike groups, so you needed something that could counter that threat.\n\nThat's why the Ghost is fast, designed to scare off, intercept or catch up to other small boats that might want to attack the fleet and take them out first, all whilst maintaining only a tiny presence on radar and sonar.\n\nIt's why it is such a smooth and stable ride, because it has to be capable of engaging the enemy and it's a lot easier to aim and fire weapons when you're not being tossed around like socks in a washing machine.\n\nThe boat in that sense would take on a similar duty to that of an attack helicopter—they would intercept illegal shipments and incoming small attack vessels for the greater defence of the fleet's perimeter once equipped with the right weaponry for the task. And what weaponry would that be? It was thought that it could be equipped with 20-millimetre cannons for anti-surface warfare or even rockets. It could also be equipped with torpedoes, radar, sonar and electro-optical sensors.\n\nOnce mass produced it would be capable of a variety of tasks though. As we've mentioned, force protection is an important one. Let's just say purely hypothetically that US boats are patrolling to look after international shipping in the Red Sea which just so happens to be attacked by the Yemeni Houthis. Or let's say that there are areas of the world with a substantial number of pirates. Or let's say that a nation even wants to send a shipment of small attack craft at a carrier strike group like Iran might for example. The Ghost is designed to engage them, outrun them, and hide from them, making it very difficult for those forces to deal with.\n\nIt could be used for special operations. It has enough space for a SPEC-OPS team, and the stealth capability and speed to get one in and out of an area fast. Coastal raid on important facilities? No problem. Hijacked cargo ship needs rescuing? Child's play. So as much as it can be used for force protection, it even has scope for force projection too. Not to mention it could also be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles—imagine one of these things spying on a Chinese ship at night, they'd simply never even know it was there.\n\n## Ghost on the Water\n\nSo let's run through the pros and cons of the Ghost. But how good is it, really? Is it more of a Casper, or a Poltergeist?\n\nWell, it's determined to be extremely fast and agile, it has impressive manoeuvrability and speed on the water. It's stable, making it easy to engage enemies at a distinct advantage. It has a very small radar signature because of its advanced tech and shape, and it's likely fast enough to be able to escape from most gunfights without too much damage. Even larger munitions like missiles might struggle to lock onto it, and it's dextrous enough to be able to employ evasive manoeuvres. It's not exactly a big target either. Missiles sometimes can't hit aircraft carriers doing evasive manoeuvres; firing a missile at this thing would be like trying to kill a fly by flicking a rubber band at it. You might hit it, but you probably won't.\n\nIt's also efficiently designed. The wings of the boat actually detach from the main body, which allows it to be transported inside almost any military cargo plane, meaning it can be deployed almost anywhere. This also allows it to be potentially repaired easier, allowing some parts to be swapped in and out after taking damage. All of the fuel, engines and most of the computer systems actually exist within the pontoons for added protection. They are protected well by the water around them; small arms fire would find it very difficult to penetrate one of the pontoons. It also creates a dilemma for enemies: do you shoot at the body of the boat which is almost all armour and ballistic material where the crew and operators are, or do you go for the pontoons which are critical to the vessel but that are so much harder to hit and obscured under the surface? Not even fishing nets can get in its way as its struts are serrated on the edges to cut through oceanic debris like a hot knife through butter. And on top of all of that, it is adaptable, being a good candidate for a variety of missions that could need soldiers, a payload, or both.\n\nBut let's not pretend that it is completely perfect—the Ghost does have some downsides. Firstly, it's not totally invisible to radar or sonar, but let's be fair, no boat is. And its design does give it a much smaller signature which is important at range. It's not battle tested, so it remains to be seen whether it will hold up in an actual fight. Being only made out of aluminium and steel, the priority was clearly to have a light and fast craft. But this might mean it's not super well armoured if it did take a lucky hit. There might be a concern that if the pontoons, as the brain and heart of the vessel, suffered any damage, they could malfunction and leave it a sitting duck. And it doesn't necessarily even have to be weapons related—it could crash on a rock in shallower water. But again, this is pretty true for many watercraft: if you hit the engines, computers, and fuel tanks you're going to have a problem, whether you're on a fishing boat or an aircraft carrier. Although the Ghost's penchant for close-quarters combat could mean such damage is more likely.\n\nIt's also expensive: it cost Juliet Marine around $10 million to produce, and the development costs were $20 million. A rigid hull inflatable boat is only a few hundred thousand by comparison. That is a price gap. But you can't tell me that the US Navy doesn't want a fleet of $10 million boats when they're potentially going to be protecting an aircraft carrier that costs over a billion each to save money. What would be a greater loss on the financial books? This is the US military we're talking about after all. A nation that can pay $350 million a pop for an F-35 can pay for this no problem.\n\nThere are some unanswered questions about the boat still however. How fast can it really go? We know what the company tell us it could do in the future, but wars aren't fought on paper. If it takes damage to one of its pontoons, can it still sail? Is there a reduction in speed? Can it still steer correctly? Does it affect the stability of the vehicle and the crew inside? We know it can handle some pretty big waves but in rougher seas would it be deployable at all? These are important questions to answer that still mean there are some gaps in our knowledge about what the Ghost is truly capable of. But it seems that for the job it is designed to do, it would be extremely successful at it. You're not going to deploy this thing in the roughest oceans with 20-metre-high waves. And damage is something all military boats have to deal with the eventuality of and they're designed with that in mind. It's not perfect, but for a stealth boat, it's pretty damn close.\n\nAnd so that begs the question: where is it? Its stealth capabilities aren't so good that it's escaped all the cameras and reporters on earth whilst this thing has been sailing around. So something is clearly holding it back. And that something is the US Navy.\n\n## Too Good to Lose?\n\nDespite all of its solid design concepts, the fact that it works, it's affordable for the US Navy, and the fact that the US Navy has wanted to incorporate the designs of companies more for a long time now, there is a reluctance to actually commission any for its fleets. Which is confusing, given how good it seems to be. This design came about in the late 2000s; this thing was ahead of its time even now. Why wouldn't the US Navy want a force multiplier like this for short-range surface skirmishes?\n\nThat's the thing. We're not sure.\n\nThe US Navy has always had something of a bias towards its own designs and its own ideas. The Ghost was made and founded because there was a specific issue with the US surface fleet at the time; perhaps the boat is a reminder to the top brass about the fleet's failure in that regard, that they failed to stop the attack on the Cole and they're determined to fix the problem themselves.\n\nNever underestimate pride and ego when the military is involved. This hot shot, untested, newly designed boat couldn't possibly fix it better than the Navy itself could… could it?\n\nWell, it seems the US Navy don't even agree with that. Because they like it, they really like it. They must, because they don't want anyone else to have it.\n\nThe Navy have attempted at every turn to stop Juliet Marine from marketing the Ghost to other parties. In 2009, the company was slapped with a secrecy order, which prevented them from talking to anyone about the Ghost. In 2010 it was then lifted without explanation, then reinstated, and then lifted again in 2011. At the time, Juliet Marine Systems were looking to market the Ghost to US allies if the US didn't want to commission any. The UK, Israel, South Korea, and Qatar all had legitimate interest in the project. But the constant bureaucratic back and forth from the Americans meant that Juliet couldn't sell any. What would happen, if in the midst of Israel ordering 20 Ghosts to patrol its waters, the US reinstated the secrecy order? Or during manufacture or production? Those countries would be out of pocket, as would Juliet Marine, so there was no way to get it done.\n\nIf they did want to do something like that, they'd have to run it through the State Department. But since it's naval technology, the State Department would then go back to the Navy to ask its opinion, and the Navy wouldn't even let Juliet Marine talk about the Ghost without significant caveats. Among other things Juliet was forbidden from discussing was the boat itself, its super-cavitating tech, its stealth capabilities or the possibility of it using US weapons.\n\nImagine trying to sell a boat to another country, but you're not allowed to mention it, or any of the things that make it unique.\n\nThe US Navy did all this, lest we remind you, *without purchasing a single one*.\n\nThis led to severe difficulties for Juliet Marine, who had to lay off most of its employees because it wasn't allowed to work with anyone, and the one place they could wouldn't buy them for some reason. Of this bureaucratic nightmare, Gregory Sancoff himself said that: \"We absolutely believe they'd like us to go out of business. They don't want to see this technology used by other countries.\"\n\nYears of legal battles were finally resolved in 2018, after Juliet Marine took the US government to court over the treatment of their intellectual property and won. So they were able to talk to other nations about selling them the Ghost. But it never happened.\n\nSo that was it—was the Ghost doomed to be a very cool and effective but ultimately cancelled \"what if\" story?\n\nWell actually? No. This story has something of a happy ending. In 2024, it was announced that General Dynamics, the American firm, were teaming up with Juliet Marine to revive the Ghost project and it seems, the US Navy is finally on board. It is reported that the Ghost will be retrofitted to make it possible to be used whilst manned, or configured for remote access.\n\nAnd this is likely the crux of the issue. The US Navy couldn't let this kind of tech outshine what the US have, especially if it was revealed it was designed for the US and specifically to fix an issue its fleet had. But when this technology was being developed, the US will have had other things, pardon the pun, on its radar.\n\nAnd those things were drones. Manned and unmanned combat are becoming more and more intertwined, and the US, probably seeing the writing on the wall about how important drones of all kinds are going to be, didn't want to just have a manned version as was the original plan. Throw in the experimental nature of the project, and the pride of the Navy, this left the Ghost in the lurch.\n\nThey didn't want to buy it in case drones would take over completely which would make it a waste of money, and they didn't want any other country running around with this incredible boat instead. So they shelved it as best they could. Now that unmanned vehicles are becoming better than ever in warfare, and drone boats are starting to see use in actual combat, the top brass realised that the Ghost could be retrofitted in a way which would actually give it even more utility, ending the standoff.\n\nFor a while, it was discussed whether the Ghost would end up a military vessel at all, or if instead Juliet would find a market for the Ghost as a pleasure craft for the wealthy. That's not out of the question—it's a reasonable size, expensive, smooth, fast, and could likely be decked out for luxury inside. A few esoteric individuals might take a punt for $10 million as an impulse buy. Heck, the technology alone could be useful for other kinds of mass sea transportation too in the future.\n\nBut it seems that with the revival of this project, this incredible vessel will glide through the water flying the stars and stripes like it always intended. And we're pleased about that. Because this boat managed to do something no other had done before which could revolutionise naval warfare forever.\n\nAnd you simply don't let that go.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- The Juliet Marine Systems 'Ghost' is a stealth-capable warship designed to counter small, fast attack boats.\n- The Ghost uses super-cavitation and gyro-stabilization for high speed and stability in rough waters.\n- The US Navy's reluctance to adopt the Ghost was due to pride, ego, and concerns about drones.\n- The Ghost's design was inspired by the 2000 USS Cole bombing and subsequent wargames.\n- The Ghost's development faced bureaucratic hurdles and secrecy orders from the US Navy.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What is the Juliet Marine Systems “Ghost”?\n\nThe Juliet Marine Systems “Ghost” is a highly advanced, stealth-capable warship designed with a SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) configuration, featuring two pontoons that drive the vessel through the water. It is known for its stealth capabilities, speed, and unique propulsion system.\n\n### What inspired the creation of the Ghost?\n\nThe Ghost was inspired by the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, where a small boat laden with explosives caused significant damage and loss of life. This event highlighted vulnerabilities in the US Navy's surface fleet, leading to the development of the Ghost to counter such threats.\n\n### How does the Ghost achieve its stealth capabilities?\n\nThe Ghost's stealth capabilities are achieved through its angular design, which minimizes its radar and sonar signature. It has a low profile, fewer windows, and is constructed from aluminium and steel, making it lightweight and resistant to corrosion.\n\n### What is the unique propulsion system of the Ghost?\n\nThe Ghost uses a pair of 1800 horsepower gas-powered turboshaft engines inside its pontoons. These engines can reconfigure to lift the boat almost out of the water, allowing it to skim across the surface at high speeds using a phenomenon called super-cavitation.\n\n### What are the potential uses of the Ghost?\n\nThe Ghost can be used for force protection, special operations, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. It can engage small attack vessels, conduct coastal raids, rescue hijacked ships, and operate in various missions requiring stealth and speed.\n\n### What are the advantages of the Ghost's design?\n\nThe Ghost is extremely fast and agile, stable for engaging enemies, has a small radar signature, and can be transported inside military cargo planes. It is adaptable for various missions and can handle wave heights up to 2.4 meters.\n\n### What challenges has the Ghost faced in its development?\n\nThe Ghost has faced bureaucratic hurdles, including secrecy orders from the US Navy that prevented Juliet Marine from marketing the boat to other countries. The US Navy's reluctance to commission the Ghost and legal battles have also been significant challenges.\n\n### What is the current status of the Ghost project?\n\nIn 2024, General Dynamics teamed up with Juliet Marine to revive the Ghost project, with the US Navy finally on board. The Ghost will be retrofitted for both manned and remote access, integrating it into modern naval warfare strategies.\n\n### How does the Ghost's design address the issue of wave hopping?\n\nThe Ghost's design, with its submerged pontoons and counter-rotating propellors, creates a stable ride by forming a tunnel of fast-moving air bubbles behind the propellors. This reduces drag and resistance, allowing the boat to glide smoothly across the water even at high speeds.\n\n### What is the significance of the Ghost's super-cavitation technology?\n\nSuper-cavitation allows the Ghost to travel through a column of foam, reducing drag and resistance. This enables the boat to achieve high speeds while maintaining stability and control, making it a unique and advanced maritime vessel.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original MegaProjects video: The Perfect Stealth Boat...that the US Navy Didn't Want](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfzBPLdft74)\n- [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Ghosted_2025-66.jpg) by Birgit Fostervold / openverse, by-sa.\n\n## Related Coverage" url: https://megaprojects.pub/article/the-perfect-stealth-boat-us-navy-didnt-want.md canonical: https://megaprojects.pub/article/the-perfect-stealth-boat-us-navy-didnt-want datePublished: 2026-07-02 dateModified: 2026-07-02 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://megaprojects.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: MegaProjects image: "https://media.megaprojects.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=600,height=338,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/lfzBPLdft74/hero.jpg" type: NewsArticle contentHash: 6837765df8f721da566499b04e25fe0ea420d85d06632983670d2dd7560c63f9 tokens: 6945 summaryUrl: https://megaprojects.pub/article/the-perfect-stealth-boat-us-navy-didnt-want.md.summary.md --- It was deemed the most exciting and impressive innovation in marine technology since the submarine was invented. Nicknamed "the ghost", it promised stealth, speed, and a brand-new propulsion system previously unseen before on military watercraft. This wasn't just some new boat, this was the next stage in maritime combat's evolution, meant to fix one glaring problem that could have led to the destruction of the US Navy as we know it. But what disastrous event led to the creation of this engineering marvel? How did it promise to change the game? And why then, over 20 years since it was first conceived of, has it still not started sailing on our waters today? This is the boat so advanced that the US Navy didn't want it. ## Do You Believe in Ghosts? This is the Juliet Marine Systems "Ghost". It's a highly advanced, stealth-capable warship that has been in and out of development with the US Navy for almost two decades. And it's unlike anything you've ever seen or even heard of before. The Ghost is known as a SWATH, which stands for "Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull"—this just means that it basically has two pontoons that drive the vessel through the water, and in case you haven't noticed, it also looks like a spaceship. Seriously, this catamaran of doom looks like it should be pod-racing on Tatooine, not the Persian Gulf. With its menacing angular structure and all-grey military exterior, this thing seems to be telling everyone who can see it, "we're coming to kill you." And that's actually an issue. "Those who can see it" isn't exactly a high number. The angular design of the Ghost is actually an attempt to help its stealth capabilities. The designers took partial inspiration from stealth-capable aircraft like the legendary Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk to ensure it's extremely hard for enemies to pick it up on either radar or sonar. It has a low profile, it has fewer windows to minimise its signature even further, and it's not that large to begin with, at 18.9 metres (or 62 feet) long. Its hull is mainly constructed from aluminium and steel, making it lightweight and resistant to the corrosive properties of the saltwater it would ultimately operate in. This also provides some protection for the crew. The Ghost has a range of 563–805 kilometres (about 350–500 miles) as well, meaning it can haunt enemies from relatively far away. Up front we've got a cockpit that looks like the inside of a spaceship to match the outside. Behind the cockpit is a cargo area that is capable of holding up to 16 passengers, and a three to five strong crew on top of that, or a payload, all loadable from a hull door at the stern. That bridge allows the operators of the vessel to sit behind a five centimetre, or two-inch-thick, ballistic windscreen to deal with small arms fire—this thing is designed to get up close and personal. But we're beating around the bush. That's all pretty cool, it's sleek, it's stealthy, and it's pretty well defended. But the standout design feature of the Ghost is how it moves through the water. Those pontoons aren't just for show. Inside of those buoyant pontoons, on each side at the end of the struts, is a pair of 1800 horsepower gas-powered turboshaft engines, but it has been reported that such engines may one day be replaced with a pair of General Electric T700 turboshaft engines. And the staggering design of how these pontoons move the boat through the water is the innovation that makes this thing so remarkable. When the Ghost is in shallow water, these pontoons stay flat and the ship sits in the water at its centreline, resulting in that low profile we were talking about earlier, but when it wants to go at speed, the wings attached to the pontoons reconfigure into a more vertical position, lifting the Ghost almost out of the water entirely as it skims across the surface. But to recognise the true genius of this design, we need to understand the drawbacks of modern fast watercraft like speedboats. Traditionally fast speedboats skip over the top of the water from their speed thanks to an engine at the back of the boat. The trouble with this is that it can lead to wave hopping. Almost anybody who has been on a fast boat will tell you that every time you hit the water going at speed like that, it's a bit like being inside the maracas of a particularly enthusiastic mariachi player. And if you're a soldier it's not like the military designs things for comfort—you are essentially getting beaten up by the boat you're in. This can make it difficult for some fast attack craft to do things like engage an enemy at speed; there just isn't the stability. And that's where the Juliet Ghost plays the ace up its sleeve. Those engines on the front of the pontoons have little propellors on them that counter-rotate, keeping the fully-submerged pontoons stable in the water, but this also lets the Ghost take advantage of a unique scientific phenomenon called "super-cavitation". The propellors under the water can form a tunnel of fast-moving air bubbles behind the propellors, which has a lower drag than dense water does as it has a lower pressure and resistance. Its engines are basically always travelling through a column of foam. So this thing doesn't even really sail—it would be more apt, considering how much of the boat is actually out of the water at speed, to say that it flies. And this makes the craft very fast. It can travel at 30 knots (or 55 kilometres per hour) but Juliet Marine are confident that the vessel could get up to 70 knots in ideal conditions, that's about 130 kilometres an hour. And because the main propulsion elements of the vessel are submerged under the water, the only part of the boat that encounters the waves are the struts or "wings". These by design have an extremely thin leading edge to cut through them, making wave impact minimal. But that's not all. You might expect a boat that's barely out of the water with that much speed would be horrible to sail because it would constantly be in danger of aquaplaning and flipping, killing everyone inside, or just creating the world's most uncomfortable experience. But you'd be wrong. Control at high speed is achieved by using a series of gyro-stabilisation technologies, as well as over 20 underwater control surfaces to maximize the craft's agility. This is all computer-controlled, a little like the electronic control systems in cars that prevent them from slipping off the road. The boat's computers make microsecond calculations from the data they receive to constantly adjust the boat's position in the water without any need for human input. Even the bubble curtain that it makes can be well-managed without the need for specialist equipment like pumps and keeps it stealthy. The result of all of this is that this thing doesn't just locomote, it glides across the water like you're sailing on silk. No more getting beaten up by a boat whilst it gets you to your destination at top speeds. Not only that, but the vessel is also capable of operating in wave heights of up to 2.4 m, which is taller than Andre the Giant, and it eats them like it's nothing. Marines who have tested the vessel have said that it's revolutionary just how stable it is at high speeds. Indeed, the ship's designer, Gregory Sancoff reported to Bloomberg that, quoting here: "You can sit there and drink your coffee going through six-foot swells." A soldier who was tasked with test driving the Ghost purportedly stated that Sancoff was inside the boat during, and that he was able to fall asleep for half of the journey. The only way you're falling asleep in a speedboat is if it knocks you out whilst it bounces your head off its hull. For all intents and purposes, this thing is a total marvel of engineering. But that leads to a few questions. Just why did they build it, and why haven't we seen more of it by now? ## When Tragedy Brings Genius So why did some private company commit to building a revolutionary new design for a surface vessel that the US Navy could use? And to tell that story, we need to travel back to the turn of the millennium, and revisit a tragedy. On October 12th, 2000, the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer was refuelling in the Yemeni port of Aden near the Red Sea, a vital sea route for trade and for military vessels to police that trade, as it goes up and through the Suez Canal. Whilst it was caught off guard, the ship was struck in shallow waters, when two men in a small boat laden with $500 worth of explosives pulled up alongside the Cole and detonated amidships in a suicide attack. It is reported that the two men piloting the vessel had given friendly gestures to several of the crew on the Cole just before they did so. As it turns out they were members of a little terror group called Al-Qaeda, who wouldn't announce themselves to the world fully until the following year on 9/11. The blast was powerful, and ripped a hole around 12 metres, that's 40 feet wide in the ship close to its waterline. At the end of it, 17 crewmen of the Cole were confirmed to be dead and 40 more were injured, some of them very badly. This came as a shock to a lot of Americans and military personnel who were stunned that such a basic, radical, and unsophisticated attack could cause such destruction for just $500. It also revealed a key security flaw in the US Naval fleet. In 2003, three years after the bombing of the Cole, a wargame named Juliet was carried out to simulate how the US would fare in a scenario where a fleet were being attacked by large numbers of these kinds of small vessels. The simulation saw the US lose 20,000 troops, proving particularly vulnerable to being overwhelmed by the small inexpensive attack craft. Sancoff saw the attack reported and kept tabs on the wargames three years later, and it inspired him to use his brain and wits to solve this problem for the US Navy. He would design a new craft that could ultimately protect the surface fleet from being overrun, and counter its vulnerabilities. He also studied the existing literature on hydroplane racing boats, and got the super-cavitation idea from torpedoes that did the same thing. By 2007, Sancoff had founded Juliet Marine Systems, named after the 600+ page wargame report, and began experimenting with mock-ups of his new ship in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. So to understand why this boat was designed this way, you have to look at the problem it was trying to solve. The Juliet report suggests that a small flotilla of fast attack boats could in the wrong circumstances overwhelm US Navy carrier strike groups, so you needed something that could counter that threat. That's why the Ghost is fast, designed to scare off, intercept or catch up to other small boats that might want to attack the fleet and take them out first, all whilst maintaining only a tiny presence on radar and sonar. It's why it is such a smooth and stable ride, because it has to be capable of engaging the enemy and it's a lot easier to aim and fire weapons when you're not being tossed around like socks in a washing machine. The boat in that sense would take on a similar duty to that of an attack helicopter—they would intercept illegal shipments and incoming small attack vessels for the greater defence of the fleet's perimeter once equipped with the right weaponry for the task. And what weaponry would that be? It was thought that it could be equipped with 20-millimetre cannons for anti-surface warfare or even rockets. It could also be equipped with torpedoes, radar, sonar and electro-optical sensors. Once mass produced it would be capable of a variety of tasks though. As we've mentioned, force protection is an important one. Let's just say purely hypothetically that US boats are patrolling to look after international shipping in the Red Sea which just so happens to be attacked by the Yemeni Houthis. Or let's say that there are areas of the world with a substantial number of pirates. Or let's say that a nation even wants to send a shipment of small attack craft at a carrier strike group like Iran might for example. The Ghost is designed to engage them, outrun them, and hide from them, making it very difficult for those forces to deal with. It could be used for special operations. It has enough space for a SPEC-OPS team, and the stealth capability and speed to get one in and out of an area fast. Coastal raid on important facilities? No problem. Hijacked cargo ship needs rescuing? Child's play. So as much as it can be used for force protection, it even has scope for force projection too. Not to mention it could also be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles—imagine one of these things spying on a Chinese ship at night, they'd simply never even know it was there. ## Ghost on the Water So let's run through the pros and cons of the Ghost. But how good is it, really? Is it more of a Casper, or a Poltergeist? Well, it's determined to be extremely fast and agile, it has impressive manoeuvrability and speed on the water. It's stable, making it easy to engage enemies at a distinct advantage. It has a very small radar signature because of its advanced tech and shape, and it's likely fast enough to be able to escape from most gunfights without too much damage. Even larger munitions like missiles might struggle to lock onto it, and it's dextrous enough to be able to employ evasive manoeuvres. It's not exactly a big target either. Missiles sometimes can't hit aircraft carriers doing evasive manoeuvres; firing a missile at this thing would be like trying to kill a fly by flicking a rubber band at it. You might hit it, but you probably won't. It's also efficiently designed. The wings of the boat actually detach from the main body, which allows it to be transported inside almost any military cargo plane, meaning it can be deployed almost anywhere. This also allows it to be potentially repaired easier, allowing some parts to be swapped in and out after taking damage. All of the fuel, engines and most of the computer systems actually exist within the pontoons for added protection. They are protected well by the water around them; small arms fire would find it very difficult to penetrate one of the pontoons. It also creates a dilemma for enemies: do you shoot at the body of the boat which is almost all armour and ballistic material where the crew and operators are, or do you go for the pontoons which are critical to the vessel but that are so much harder to hit and obscured under the surface? Not even fishing nets can get in its way as its struts are serrated on the edges to cut through oceanic debris like a hot knife through butter. And on top of all of that, it is adaptable, being a good candidate for a variety of missions that could need soldiers, a payload, or both. But let's not pretend that it is completely perfect—the Ghost does have some downsides. Firstly, it's not totally invisible to radar or sonar, but let's be fair, no boat is. And its design does give it a much smaller signature which is important at range. It's not battle tested, so it remains to be seen whether it will hold up in an actual fight. Being only made out of aluminium and steel, the priority was clearly to have a light and fast craft. But this might mean it's not super well armoured if it did take a lucky hit. There might be a concern that if the pontoons, as the brain and heart of the vessel, suffered any damage, they could malfunction and leave it a sitting duck. And it doesn't necessarily even have to be weapons related—it could crash on a rock in shallower water. But again, this is pretty true for many watercraft: if you hit the engines, computers, and fuel tanks you're going to have a problem, whether you're on a fishing boat or an aircraft carrier. Although the Ghost's penchant for close-quarters combat could mean such damage is more likely. It's also expensive: it cost Juliet Marine around $10 million to produce, and the development costs were $20 million. A rigid hull inflatable boat is only a few hundred thousand by comparison. That is a price gap. But you can't tell me that the US Navy doesn't want a fleet of $10 million boats when they're potentially going to be protecting an aircraft carrier that costs over a billion each to save money. What would be a greater loss on the financial books? This is the US military we're talking about after all. A nation that can pay $350 million a pop for an F-35 can pay for this no problem. There are some unanswered questions about the boat still however. How fast can it really go? We know what the company tell us it could do in the future, but wars aren't fought on paper. If it takes damage to one of its pontoons, can it still sail? Is there a reduction in speed? Can it still steer correctly? Does it affect the stability of the vehicle and the crew inside? We know it can handle some pretty big waves but in rougher seas would it be deployable at all? These are important questions to answer that still mean there are some gaps in our knowledge about what the Ghost is truly capable of. But it seems that for the job it is designed to do, it would be extremely successful at it. You're not going to deploy this thing in the roughest oceans with 20-metre-high waves. And damage is something all military boats have to deal with the eventuality of and they're designed with that in mind. It's not perfect, but for a stealth boat, it's pretty damn close. And so that begs the question: where is it? Its stealth capabilities aren't so good that it's escaped all the cameras and reporters on earth whilst this thing has been sailing around. So something is clearly holding it back. And that something is the US Navy. ## Too Good to Lose? Despite all of its solid design concepts, the fact that it works, it's affordable for the US Navy, and the fact that the US Navy has wanted to incorporate the designs of companies more for a long time now, there is a reluctance to actually commission any for its fleets. Which is confusing, given how good it seems to be. This design came about in the late 2000s; this thing was ahead of its time even now. Why wouldn't the US Navy want a force multiplier like this for short-range surface skirmishes? That's the thing. We're not sure. The US Navy has always had something of a bias towards its own designs and its own ideas. The Ghost was made and founded because there was a specific issue with the US surface fleet at the time; perhaps the boat is a reminder to the top brass about the fleet's failure in that regard, that they failed to stop the attack on the Cole and they're determined to fix the problem themselves. Never underestimate pride and ego when the military is involved. This hot shot, untested, newly designed boat couldn't possibly fix it better than the Navy itself could… could it? Well, it seems the US Navy don't even agree with that. Because they like it, they really like it. They must, because they don't want anyone else to have it. The Navy have attempted at every turn to stop Juliet Marine from marketing the Ghost to other parties. In 2009, the company was slapped with a secrecy order, which prevented them from talking to anyone about the Ghost. In 2010 it was then lifted without explanation, then reinstated, and then lifted again in 2011. At the time, Juliet Marine Systems were looking to market the Ghost to US allies if the US didn't want to commission any. The UK, Israel, South Korea, and Qatar all had legitimate interest in the project. But the constant bureaucratic back and forth from the Americans meant that Juliet couldn't sell any. What would happen, if in the midst of Israel ordering 20 Ghosts to patrol its waters, the US reinstated the secrecy order? Or during manufacture or production? Those countries would be out of pocket, as would Juliet Marine, so there was no way to get it done. If they did want to do something like that, they'd have to run it through the State Department. But since it's naval technology, the State Department would then go back to the Navy to ask its opinion, and the Navy wouldn't even let Juliet Marine talk about the Ghost without significant caveats. Among other things Juliet was forbidden from discussing was the boat itself, its super-cavitating tech, its stealth capabilities or the possibility of it using US weapons. Imagine trying to sell a boat to another country, but you're not allowed to mention it, or any of the things that make it unique. The US Navy did all this, lest we remind you, *without purchasing a single one*. This led to severe difficulties for Juliet Marine, who had to lay off most of its employees because it wasn't allowed to work with anyone, and the one place they could wouldn't buy them for some reason. Of this bureaucratic nightmare, Gregory Sancoff himself said that: "We absolutely believe they'd like us to go out of business. They don't want to see this technology used by other countries." Years of legal battles were finally resolved in 2018, after Juliet Marine took the US government to court over the treatment of their intellectual property and won. So they were able to talk to other nations about selling them the Ghost. But it never happened. So that was it—was the Ghost doomed to be a very cool and effective but ultimately cancelled "what if" story? Well actually? No. This story has something of a happy ending. In 2024, it was announced that General Dynamics, the American firm, were teaming up with Juliet Marine to revive the Ghost project and it seems, the US Navy is finally on board. It is reported that the Ghost will be retrofitted to make it possible to be used whilst manned, or configured for remote access. And this is likely the crux of the issue. The US Navy couldn't let this kind of tech outshine what the US have, especially if it was revealed it was designed for the US and specifically to fix an issue its fleet had. But when this technology was being developed, the US will have had other things, pardon the pun, on its radar. And those things were drones. Manned and unmanned combat are becoming more and more intertwined, and the US, probably seeing the writing on the wall about how important drones of all kinds are going to be, didn't want to just have a manned version as was the original plan. Throw in the experimental nature of the project, and the pride of the Navy, this left the Ghost in the lurch. They didn't want to buy it in case drones would take over completely which would make it a waste of money, and they didn't want any other country running around with this incredible boat instead. So they shelved it as best they could. Now that unmanned vehicles are becoming better than ever in warfare, and drone boats are starting to see use in actual combat, the top brass realised that the Ghost could be retrofitted in a way which would actually give it even more utility, ending the standoff. For a while, it was discussed whether the Ghost would end up a military vessel at all, or if instead Juliet would find a market for the Ghost as a pleasure craft for the wealthy. That's not out of the question—it's a reasonable size, expensive, smooth, fast, and could likely be decked out for luxury inside. A few esoteric individuals might take a punt for $10 million as an impulse buy. Heck, the technology alone could be useful for other kinds of mass sea transportation too in the future. But it seems that with the revival of this project, this incredible vessel will glide through the water flying the stars and stripes like it always intended. And we're pleased about that. Because this boat managed to do something no other had done before which could revolutionise naval warfare forever. And you simply don't let that go. ## Key Takeaways - The Juliet Marine Systems 'Ghost' is a stealth-capable warship designed to counter small, fast attack boats. - The Ghost uses super-cavitation and gyro-stabilization for high speed and stability in rough waters. - The US Navy's reluctance to adopt the Ghost was due to pride, ego, and concerns about drones. - The Ghost's design was inspired by the 2000 USS Cole bombing and subsequent wargames. - The Ghost's development faced bureaucratic hurdles and secrecy orders from the US Navy. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the Juliet Marine Systems “Ghost”? The Juliet Marine Systems “Ghost” is a highly advanced, stealth-capable warship designed with a SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) configuration, featuring two pontoons that drive the vessel through the water. It is known for its stealth capabilities, speed, and unique propulsion system. ### What inspired the creation of the Ghost? The Ghost was inspired by the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, where a small boat laden with explosives caused significant damage and loss of life. This event highlighted vulnerabilities in the US Navy's surface fleet, leading to the development of the Ghost to counter such threats. ### How does the Ghost achieve its stealth capabilities? The Ghost's stealth capabilities are achieved through its angular design, which minimizes its radar and sonar signature. It has a low profile, fewer windows, and is constructed from aluminium and steel, making it lightweight and resistant to corrosion. ### What is the unique propulsion system of the Ghost? The Ghost uses a pair of 1800 horsepower gas-powered turboshaft engines inside its pontoons. These engines can reconfigure to lift the boat almost out of the water, allowing it to skim across the surface at high speeds using a phenomenon called super-cavitation. ### What are the potential uses of the Ghost? The Ghost can be used for force protection, special operations, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. It can engage small attack vessels, conduct coastal raids, rescue hijacked ships, and operate in various missions requiring stealth and speed. ### What are the advantages of the Ghost's design? The Ghost is extremely fast and agile, stable for engaging enemies, has a small radar signature, and can be transported inside military cargo planes. It is adaptable for various missions and can handle wave heights up to 2.4 meters. ### What challenges has the Ghost faced in its development? The Ghost has faced bureaucratic hurdles, including secrecy orders from the US Navy that prevented Juliet Marine from marketing the boat to other countries. The US Navy's reluctance to commission the Ghost and legal battles have also been significant challenges. ### What is the current status of the Ghost project? In 2024, General Dynamics teamed up with Juliet Marine to revive the Ghost project, with the US Navy finally on board. The Ghost will be retrofitted for both manned and remote access, integrating it into modern naval warfare strategies. ### How does the Ghost's design address the issue of wave hopping? The Ghost's design, with its submerged pontoons and counter-rotating propellors, creates a stable ride by forming a tunnel of fast-moving air bubbles behind the propellors. This reduces drag and resistance, allowing the boat to glide smoothly across the water even at high speeds. ### What is the significance of the Ghost's super-cavitation technology? Super-cavitation allows the Ghost to travel through a column of foam, reducing drag and resistance. This enables the boat to achieve high speeds while maintaining stability and control, making it a unique and advanced maritime vessel. ## Sources - [Original MegaProjects video: The Perfect Stealth Boat...that the US Navy Didn't Want](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfzBPLdft74) - [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Ghosted_2025-66.jpg) by Birgit Fostervold / openverse, by-sa. ## Related Coverage