Footage captured during the launch of a US warship using the ‘side launch’ method shows the vessel seemingly colliding with a tugboat moments after hitting the water.

The US Navy announced on Friday (14 April) its plans to launch and christen the USS Cleveland, a Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship, in Marinette, Wisconsin, using the old method known as a side launch.

Side launches are generally chosen when there is not enough water to otherwise launch the vessel. The method involves the ship entering the water broadside, aided by gravity, and often involves a small tugboat pulling the larger vessel.

Dramatic footage taken at the event on Saturday (15 April) shows the USS Cleveland rocking after hitting the water before sending a huge wall of water over the deck of the nearby tug. The crew on board the tugboat can be seen scurrying away from the wave as it crashes over them.

According to the US Department of Defense (DOD), any future ships are ‘planned to be launched using a shiplift system.’

Speaking to Newsweek, Mark Grove, a senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln’s Maritime Studies Center at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, says he couldn’t visually confirm whether the new vessel struck the tugboat from the footage provided. “[But] it does look very close, and is probably a bit too close for comfort,” he says.

The USS Cleveland is the 16th and final Freedom-variant LCS and the fourth ship to be named in honour of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, according to DOD. Previous USS Clevelands were the World War I cruiser (C 19), the World War II light cruiser (CL 55), and the Vietnam-era amphibious transport dock (LPD 7), decommissioned in 2011.

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