U.S. Navy fries ship with a laser

[Penguin]

In a demonstration near California’s San Nicholas Island last Wednesday, scientists with the U.S. Navy tested a laser weapon aboard the USS Paul Foster by shooting a 15-kilowatt beam at an inflatable boat from a mile away, causing the outboard engines to burst into flames. It was the world’s first successful water-test of a high-energy laser. “I spent my life at sea,” Rear Adm. Nevin Carr told Wired, “and I never thought we’d see this kind of progress this quickly, where we’re approaching a decision of when we can put laser weapons on ships.”

Source with video here: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/...s-ship-on-fire

This could be a cool less-lethal anti-piracy weapon - or a new method of distance-cooking.
If it really was this fast as the video suggests, then I am impressed.
It seems that they follow in the footsteps of good ole Archimedes: http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www//experi...desResult.html