If you saw this on the water Sunday….and wondered….what IS THAT?
Sunday afternoon as I entered my living room from the bedroom, I glanced out at my ocean view as I often do; only this time I saw something I had never seen before. Now, I am accustomed to the occasional cruise ship and small boats along with outrigger canoe paddlers from time to time, but what I saw this time looked like a giant white floating globe way, way out somewhere in what I can only describe as the middle of the ocean. In order to have evidence of my sighting, I grabbed my camera, which has 20X zoom, set it on 10 mega pixels and took a picture. The picture you see above is the object increased in size several times so I could see what it was.
Naturally I thought some invasion by sea was underway. It was the strangest looking thing because it seemed to be floating, in fact, motoring in a Southern direction yet had “legs” like an oil platform instead of any type of “ship” body. Dismissing that thought, I set about to find out what it was. After some research, I discovered it was an SBX or sea based X-band radar. Quite an unusual sight to see going past my condo headed towards Lihue. Where it ended up I do not know but at least I do know that it was not an apparition, sailing saucer (the sea equivalent of a flying saucer) or the manifestation of the alleged Crystal City which supposedly resides somewhere in the ocean off Princeville and can be seen by only a chosen few.
According to the Missile Defense agency, An SBX is “a unique combination of an advanced X-band radar with mobile, ocean-going, semi-submersible platform that provides the Ballistic Missile Defense System with an extremely powerful and capable radar that can be positioned to cover any part of the globe. The vessel is based on a fifth-generation semi-submersible oil drilling platform. It is twin-hulled, self-propelled, and stable in high winds and turbulent sea conditions.” It is “230 feet wide and 390 feet long. It towers more than 280 feet from its keel to the top of the radar dome and displaces nearly 50,000 tons. Larger than a football field, the main deck houses living quarters, workspaces, storage, power generation, bridge, and control rooms while providing the floor space and infrastructure necessary to support the radar antenna array, command control and communications suites, and an In-flight Interceptor Communication System Data Terminal which provides missile tracking and target discrimination data to interceptor missiles. The Sea-Based X-Band Rader will be manned by approximately 85 crew members.”
The official press relesase for the SBX radar is attached here sbx1.pdf.
Who knew…..
Aloha Elaine
Elaine Schaefer (R, GRI, ABR)
Broker in Charge – Princeville Resort Office
Graduate, Realtor’s Institute
Accredited Buyer’s Representative
Top Producer 100% Club
RE/MAX Kauai
Princeville Resort Office
POB 223632
Princeville, HI 96722
cell: 808 639 2935
home fax: 1 808 440 4552
email:soldonkauai@yahoo.com
website: www.kauairealestatenow.com
blog: www.blogs.alohaliving.com/princeville-condo-sales
……you can have your own piece of paradise
ask me how!
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