Meet The Lady of the Lake – ZeroUSV’s brand new Oceanus17 USV celebrated at official naming ceremony

ZeroUSV has unveiled its newest Oceanus17 class of USV, named The Lady of the Lake, marking the next generation of UK maritime innovation. The naming ceremony took place during Plymouth’s British National Firework Championships, with the vessel officially named by Rebecca Smith MP. The name reflects the vessel's advanced capabilities for resilient, enduring, and multi-tasking operations across extended maritime missions, drawing on the Arthurian tradition and building upon MSubs’ delivery of HMS Excalibur to the Royal Navy.

ZeroUSV's Managing Director, Matthew Ratsey, stated that the event celebrates the company's ability to design, build, and deliver cutting-edge British technology and innovation at an accelerated pace. In just over a year, ZeroUSV launched the first Oceanus12 USV, and with the first Oceanus17 now officially named, they have demonstrated their capacity to design, build, and deliver successive generations of world-class autonomous vessels within six months.

The Oceanus17 class shows a significant improvement in British autonomous USV capability, featuring a large payload capacity of 4,000kg, mission endurance exceeding 50 days, and a top speed of 15 knots. The vessel retains the Oceanus class DNA, enabling rapid mobilization to any global location. ZeroUSV's commitment to British maritime innovation is evident in this development, enhancing the UK's sovereign capability to produce advanced USVs and strengthening Plymouth's reputation as a center for maritime autonomy.

Built at Manor Marine's shipyard in Portland, the Oceanus17 is the next evolution of ZeroUSV's proven Oceanus class family. It builds on the success of the Oceanus12, offering extended endurance of over 50 days per mission and a 20-foot ISO-compatible payload bay with 30 kw of dedicated payload power. The vessel incorporates level-four autonomous navigation, provided by MarineAI’s GuardianAI autonomy stack, and dual-redundant engineering systems to ensure resilience for persistent, over-the-horizon operations in challenging maritime environments.

Within a week, the first Oceanus17 will be deployed to Portugal, representing Britain and the Royal Navy for NATO Exercise REPMUS throughout September. For more information on the Oceanus17, visit https://www.zerousv.com/platform/oceanus17.