Electric Hydrofoil Surfboards for the Placement of Mines
By Bill Thayer | March 1, 2022
Bill Thayer
Mr. Thayer received his BS in Math from Stanford and an MS in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA from USC. He worked 30 years in the aerospace industry in aircraft, missiles and spacecraft and was a private pilot.
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An electric hydrofoil surfboard has the capability of carrying a 200-lb surfer at 25 mph for 25 miles. See the video here.
Let’s say the mission is to plant 500-lb mines near an enemy’s harbor entrance.* The video above shows a 200-lb payload being transported 25 miles. Obviously, the electric hydrofoil surfboard would have to more than doubled in size to carry a 500-lb mine. It would need more battery power to go from 25 miles to 100 miles. But this should be easy to design. Let’s assume this can be done and that 500 mines could be put at the entrance to the enemy’s harbor. Let’s assume that 200 mines sink or damage ships. The cost of the electric surfboard is $12,000. For the upgraded design, the cost might be $100,000. To place 500 mines would cost $50 million. But what would be the cost of 200 ships]—and the uncertainty of the enemy in entering or leaving the harbor? It would probably be a worthwhile effort. Other ways of emplacing mines are by aircraft and submarine. This method would be much less risky. Imagine losing one plane or one submarine. What would that loss be just in terms of dollars?
https://blog.usni.org/posts/2022/03/01/electric-hydrofoil-surfboard-for-the-placement-of-mines
