Man Spends $15 Million Developing a 'Revolutionary' Vessel 'Not Even the Navy' Has Ever Built

Gregory Sancoff spent $15 million on an ocean vessel prototype to sell to the U.S. Navy, but the Navy doesn't want it.

"It's a revolutionary program," Sancoff, founder and CEO of Juliet Marine Systems near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, said. "Nothing like this has ever been built by anybody, not even the Navy."

But perhaps the reason the Navy has never built is simply because it doesn't want it – or doesn't need it. But after hearing about how terrorists attacked the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, Sancoff is convinced the military will come around.

In this photo taken Monday Dec. 15, 2014 the newly designed warship vessel named Ghost sits in an old warehouse on the grounds of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In this photo taken Monday Dec. 15, 2014, New Hampshire businessman Greg Sancoff poses next to the “Ghost," his newly designed warship vessel, on the grounds of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

This Monday Dec. 15, 2014 photo shows the cockpit of the “Ghost," New Hampshire businessman Greg Sancoff's newly designed warship vessel, on the grounds of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

This Monday Dec. 15, 2014 photo shows the cockpit of the “Ghost," New Hampshire businessman Greg Sancoff's newly designed warship vessel, on the grounds of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

The "Ghost," as Sancoff is calling it, is a much smaller, faster vessel ideal for protecting much larger ships and transporting Navy SEALs. It uses a technique called "supercavitation" in which a large bubble of gas forms underwater to reduce the drag of the water on the vessel. According to Princeton University, the drag on an object surrounded by water is about 1,000 times greater than the drag on an object surrounded by a gas.

Sancoff said that so far, the ship is able to travel at about 35 mph but believes it's capable of reaching 60 mph. Even so, Sancoff admitted that the Navy is still pretty skeptical of what he's been working on, but that Navy is starting to take his development more seriously.

"The high ground for the U.S. Navy is to take this and evaluate it and learn from it. The propulsion system could be valuable in other applications. You've got to keep that door open to innovation," retired Vice Adm. Pete Daly, CEO of the U.S. Naval Institute, said of Sancoff's idea.

According to Lexington Institute defense analyst Loren Thompson, said Sancoff needs plenty of money and a friend or two in Congress to help his startup company avoid a purchasing process which tends to be easier for larger companies to handle.

"I wish them luck...Entrepreneurship is not always rewarded at the Pentagon," Thompson said.

(H/T: Fox News)

Editor's note: This post has been updated.

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