If you noticed a mysterious jet-black vessel, with throbbing engine, moving around the waters off the south of the Isle of Wight this afternoon, you might be interested to read on.
XV Patrick Blackett (X01) is an experimental ship used by the Royal Navy as a testbed for new technologies, including unmanned underwater vehicles, unmanned surface vehicles and quantum navigation.
Adapted by NavyX
The former supply ship was adapted by the Royal Navy’s navy’s experimentation and innovation experts, known as NavyX. It is 42 metres in length, weighs 270-tonnes and is named after former Royal Navy sailor and Nobel Prize winner, Patrick Blackett.
The Royal Navy say,
“Thanks to the addition of the XV – Experimental Vessel – Patrick Blackett, NavyX will be able to carry out more trials at sea to enhance the Fleet’s operations and ensure the UK stays at the leading edge of naval warfare.
“XV Patrick Blackett will enable NavyX to experiment without the need to place demand on other navy ships, many of which are deployed permanently away from UK waters. She will also offer the chance to work closer with industry and academia partners.”
Testing drones and autonomous vessels and AI decision-making
The Patrick Blackett arrived at Portsmouth just short of two years ago. At the time, the Royal Navy said,
“The ship, with a crew of five Royal Navy personnel, will have a ‘plug and play’ element to support the navy’s new PODS (Persistently Operationally Deployed Systems) concept which means it can be adapted to the specific trials or experiments it’s carrying out including testing drones and autonomous vessels and AI decision-making.”
Today it was spotted off the coast of Ventnor, travelling up and down the coast, circling every so often, before heading back towards Portsmouth.
