Reporter's Notebook

Not enough chop

Photo by Rob Curtis/Senior photographer

ABOARD A SMALL TACTICAL CRAFT ON THE POTOMAC RIVER – Navy Times photographer Rob Curtis wanted to know where the gear was – he usually shoots pictures of new flashlights or water bottles – but I told him I had more interesting things for him to photograph. There are several Navy and Coast Guard boats docked down on the river outside the Sea Air Space exposition, one of which is Lockheed Martin’s Small Tactical Craft, also known by its 1980s action-TV show name, COBRA. (Of course it’s an acronym: “Common Off-Board Reconfigurable Asset.”)

I was slated to take the press ride aboard the COBRA tomorrow morning, but I wanted to take advantage of Rob’s professional photo skills to shoot pictures of LockMart’s experimental boat, in case my highly amateur abilities didn’t prove up to the task. As we walked down to the river in a cold, misting rain, the COBRA was coming back from ferrying an earlier load of attendees down the river.

The COBRA is a 40-foot, twin-hull, twin-engine craft that LockMart hopes to sell to the Navy for use in the mission bay aboard the littoral combat ship Freedom. It looks like a catamaran pickup truck, with a small cab up front and a flat bed aft that can accept different accessories; today it’s fitted with a passenger cabin and six shock-absorbing seats, designed to carry SEAL special operators.

“That’s a pretty dangerous looking boat,” I said to Joseph Schmitt, the boat’s captain, when he and the other crew members climbed down onto the dock. “How fast can she go?”

More than 30 knots, he said, and the next thing I knew, Rob was standing aboard the COBRA in the crew compartment, shooting pictures, and then, so was I, talking with Schmitt and Robby Harris, director of advanced concepts for Lockheed Martin. The Lockheed guys had nothing going on, they said; would Rob and I like to take a spin? We rogered up.

Photo by Rob Curtis/Senior photographer

The twin six-cylinder diesels roared to life. We sat down in the crew cabin and Schmitt backed the COBRA straight back from the docks, then wheeled smartly left and nosed the boat down the short channel from the National Harbor inlet into the Potomac. The sky was oppressively gray and the rain was picking up; even the massive Wilson Bridge, which carries the Beltway from Virginia to Maryland, was just a blur in the near distance.

Harris explained that the COBRA is designed to ride smoothly even up to sea state 5 because it has a “semi-SWATH” design, borrowing elements from a catamaran and a ship with a Small Waterplane Area, Twin Hull. True enough, although the Potomac was calm, the COBRA rode dead-flat as we made our way out into the river.

Harris laughed that it was too bad the river was too level to demonstrate the COBRA’s sea-keeping. I suggested we do a few cork-screws and chop up the water, and then try to bump over it – a trick I saw aboard the Freedom.

“Hey, Joe!” he called over the engines to Schmitt, who was at the controls. Harris twirled his finger. “Let’s do a 360 and go over our wake!”

Schmitt cut the COBRA into a tight turn in the middle of the empty river channel. In a moment we were bound toward a dark path in the water left by the boat’s jets, but there was no sensation when we passed over it.

“This thing conceals its own wake, so I’ve got a helluva time trying to get it to rock,” he shouted. “You gotta chase boats to find some rough water!”

LockMart says the COBRA’s smooth ride is ideal for SEALs or geared-up Marines, who are accustomed to being abused in small boats that slam in heavy seas. The COBRA is designed not to slam, and although the waters on our trip didn’t make for a good trial, it didn’t. Instead it pitched gently up and down like a house boat.

Schmitt aimed the COBRA back at National Harbor and opened the throttles; the engines drowned out any possibility of conversation. The COBRA’s jets kicked up two white wakes in the river, and not long after, we were back in channel heading toward the dock. The hydraulic doors on the front of the boat opened for us to get out and we talked for a few more minutes in the mist.

I asked for the trip, so I suppose I can’t send Lockheed the bill for my dry cleaning.