GULFPORT, Miss. For the primary time, the Navy allowed the media right into a nondescript compound on the Mississippi coast, providing a glimpse of an uncommon vessel slated to affix the fleet by the tip of the 12 months.

It is right here with its excessive ceilings, dusty flooring and equipment hum the place the Navy's second drone warship, Sea Hunter II, is being constructed and bred for battle.

"Proper now we're about six months from the water," Barry Dreyfus, CEO of United States Marine Inc., stated as reporters walked alongside the vessel's slender hull. "This lengthy and thin hull means it'll minimize by way of the water with much less drag and be capable to keep out at sea for a very long time," he stated.

Not like a standard warship, Sea Hunter II and its predecessor, Sea Hunter, are designed to traverse open waters with out a single crew member. The deck is evident of handrails and ladders. Beneath deck, computer systems and neatly layered...