Navy Ready to Christen New Overlord USV ‘Mariner’ - Seapower

The U.S. Navy’s newest Overlord medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) is moored at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for its Aug. 23 christening ceremony after a period of tours by dignitaries, Navy officials, academy midshipmen and media reporters.

The MUSV, produced by prime contractor Leidos, with Gulf Craft of Franklin, Louisiana, as the builder, is to be christened “Mariner” by Stacy Small, wife of Capt. Pete Small, program manager for Unmanned Maritime Systems in the Program Executive Office, Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO-USC).

The Mariner is the fourth Overlord MUSV to be acquired by the Navy, although the third vessel, Vanguard, is still under construction. The first two Overlord MUSVs, Ranger and Nomad, were built under the auspices of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and transferred to the Navy early in 2022. They are assigned to Unmanned Surface Vessel Division One in San Diego, California and participated in the Rim-of-the-Pacific Exercise off Hawaii this summer.

The Mariner, delivered to the Navy in March, recently completed a period at Little Creek, Virginia, for installation of some government-furnished equipment, said Brian Fitzpatrick, principal assistant program manager. Eventually it will be transferred to USV Division One via a transit of the Panama Canal.

Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive officer, PEO-USC, said the Overlord program is leveraging both at-sea and land-based testing. The at-sea testing is used to evaluate the performance of the MUSV in a corrosive salt-water environment.

Casey pointed out that each of the four Overlord vessels is different, with a variety of different hull, mechanical, and engineering systems and mission systems. Each MUSV also is evaluated with different mission systems that are changed out.

The Mariner, halfway built when the Navy bought it, is based on a fast supply vessel designed to service offshore oil rigs. The vessels are already significantly automated.

The MUSV is equipped with satellite communications; three radars of different bands; a mast-mounted electro-optical sensor, an electro-optical/infrared system camera system on six sides of the ship; Link 16; and several radios.