The future on the high seas for the Navy may be one without sailors. Unmanned ships like the USS Mariner and Ranger, and the recently launched USX-1 Defiant, are opening up a world that gives the Navy and other branches incredible capabilities on the water, no seamen necessary.

This quest for drone warships began in earnest in 2010 under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program. The aim, as the name indicates, was to develop a boat that could follow submarines around the world without requiring a manned ship. The program produced a 132-foot trimaran-hulled boat called Sea Hunter, which launched in 2016.

During early testing off San Diego, Sea Hunter demonstrated continuous autonomous operation for over

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