be able to propel itself to and from locations of interest and further provide operational power to the one or more robotic vehicles that it supports accordingly boat 10 must be capable of generating its own mechanical and electrical power as well as operational power for its robotic vehicles one way of achieving this is for boat 10 to have a conventional air breathing engine propulsion system 20 onboard a fuel tank 22 supplying fuel to engine 20 and a generator 24 coupled to engine propulsion system 20 in this way engine propulsion system 20 provides mechanical power for propulsion of boat 10 and for generator 24 which converts mechanical power to electrical power a battery 26 could be coupled to generator 24 to store excess electrical power and or to provide regulated power for those systems onboard boat 10 in addition to engine propulsion system 20 boat 10 will be equipped with steering mechanisms 30 controlled by computer 12 such mechanisms 30 would typically include both macro steering mechanisms 30 a e g rudders and micro steering mechanisms 30 b e g side thrusters macro steering control is implemented when boat 10 is traveling to and from an area of interest micro steering control is implemented when boat 10 is u201c on station u201d at an area of interest with its robotic vehicle s deployed in the water as will be explained further below as previously mentioned boat 10 is equipped to stow one or more robotic vehicles during travel to and from an area of interest the robotic vehicles can be.