SAN DIEGO — A self-sailing ship made history after traveling from San Diego to Hawaii and back with no sailors aboard, according to military.com .
The autonomous Trimaran, named Sea Hunter, was developed for counter-mine missions and submarine hunting.
Crews did board the 132-foot-long Sea Hunter briefly during the voyage to check electrical and propulsion systems, according to Leidos , the company that designed and built the ship.
"The Sea Hunter program is leading the world in unmanned, fully autonomous naval ship design and production," Gerry Fasano, the president of Leidos Defense Group said.
"The recent long-range mission is the first of its kind and demonstrates to the U.S. Navy that autonomy technology is ready to move from the developmental and experimental stages to advanced mission testing,” Fasano said.
According to the company, Sea Hunter will continue testing throughout 2019.
The Office of Naval Research recently awarded Leidos a potential $43.5 million contract to develop Sea Hunter II, which is currently under construction in Mississippi.
