The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) must be credited with taking bold initiatives in the late 1950s and early 1960s to seek novel forms of ships aimed at revitalizing the ailing American Merchant Marine. In the late 1950s the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) embarked upon several programs that included different approaches to the ship construction subsidy program; the use of standardized containers; improved data processing for handling ship operating information on board ship; more efficient shoreside operations; improved cargo handling means; and other ways of reducing costs and improve efficiency of American ships. The decline of the American Merchant Marine had been underway since the end of World War II. By 1964, the world merchant shipping fleet was moving around 200 million deadweight tons of cargo and goods. At that same time, the cargo and goods being shipped by the US fleet was only about 15% of that world value at a modest 35 million deadweight tons. In addition to the wide ranging initiatives being pursued by the US Maritime Administration there were three specific programs designed to seek new hull forms for the transport of goods over transoceanic routes at both reduced cost and with more efficient operation. These programs were:

1. (1) Nuclear Powered Ship (N.S.Savannah) (1959–1972)

2. (2) High speed Hydrofoil (HS Denison) (1958–1964)

3. (3) High speed Surface Effect Ship (Columbia and VRC–1 Project) (1961–1965)

The first program (N.S. Savannah) was aimed at reducing the operating costs of ships by switching from fossil fuel to nuclear power for propulsion. The second two programs (hydrofoil and surface effect ship) were aimed at incorporating vastly superior high speeds into ocean commerce with a goal of 100 knots or more. This goal for the hydrofoil and surface effect ship programs was based on in-house economic analyses that showed that such ships from 100 tons to 3,000 tons displacement traveling at 100 knots over transatlantic distances (approx 3,600 nautical miles) would offer Direct Operating Costs (DOC) between those experienced by conventional displacement ships and those of transport aircraft. The aim was to move cargo and goods faster “to market” at speeds much greater than the 20–30 knots of conventional displacement ships but at costs much less than transporting by air.