At high speeds they raise cabin above the water like a hydrofoil
It looks uncannily like the X-Wing fighter from the sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars.
However, in fact this is the Ghost - a $10m ship designed to 'fly' above the water on legs and deliver marines into battle.
Invented by a Maine medical tech millionaire, the US Navy is already considering buying the craft.
The Ghost is the brainchild of medical tech millionaire Gregory Sancoff, who designed the ship himself.
He has spent more than $15 million developing and building this initial prototype at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.
The 38-foot long main cabin rests on top of a pair of 12-foot tall struts which, when moving at speed, prop the cabin above the water like a hydrofoil.
The struts swivel at their base, allowing them to be raised and lowered depending on the water depth.
They're sharpened along the leading edge as well to slice through submerged debris.
Four propellers positioned at the front of the tubes are powered by the two 2,000-horsepower engines.
They pull the craft and, with the help of air funneling down through the struts, create a gas bubble around each tube—an effect known as supercavitation that can reduce drag by a factor of 900.
These tubes also eject a pocket of air from the front to generate a supercavitation effect that reduces the ship's drag coefficient by a factor of 900.
'It's such a smooth ride, you can sit there and drink your coffee going through six-foot swells,' Sancoff told Bloomberg Businessweek.
Sancoff says it could become an 'attack helicopter of the sea'.
It is built from aluminum and stainless steel,and is designed to have no radar signature, making in invisible to enemies.
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