This paper introduces the outline of the large diesel driven fully submerged hydrofoil catamaran: MITSUBISHI SUPER SHUTTLE 400. "RAINBOW". She was newly developed and constructed. and entered service in Japanese coastal sea in 1993. She was designed to satisfy many requirements for high leveled fast passenger crafts. The main technical features are as follows;
Fully submerged foils with high aspect ratio and tandem configuration.
Catamaran hull form with deep V-form bottoms.
Propulsion plant consists of four high-speed. diesel engines and two water jet propulsors.
Automatic ride control system.
Recently, demands for high-speed sea transportation are increasing in Japan. And In the field of passenger craft, various kinds of crafts have been brought to light by a good number of Shipyards and Institutes. The requirements for high-speed passenger crafts are different in their individual service routes, but major common requirements are considered as follows. - Service speed over 35 knots - High seakeepIng quality - Ride comfortablilty - Large passenger capacity - Economical cost (low construction cost and operational cost) - Easy maintenance. After researching various concepts of high-speed Crafts, a diesel driven fully submerged hydrofoil seemed to a promising answer to those requirements. About 30 years ago, MHI had already constructed a fully submerged small experimental hydrofoil by its own technology, and also constructed many surface piercing type passenger hydrofoils. Based on such rich experiences about hydrofoils and new and high technologies about wide engineering. MHI now developed fully submerged hydrofoil catamaran MITSUBISHI SUPER SHUTTLE 400 "RAINBOW" (Fig.1). This craft entered service between Honshu (the main Island of Japan) and the Islands of Oki (In Japanese sea). about 40 sea miles route since April the first. 1993 (Fig.1 are shown in the paper)
