New type of Navy ship would be a key element in the Pentagon’s sea basing concept

By MATT HILBURN, Associate Editor

A central challenge of the Pentagon’s warfighting concept of the future, called sea basing, is to devise ways to get materiel from cargo-laden transport ships at a sea base to shore without docking and offloading in the traditional manner. Operations relevant to the sea base, such as troop staging and the offloading of weapons, munitions, food and parts for U.S. troops, would be done about 75 miles at sea.

The challenge becomes all the more vexing in moderate to high sea states. Some of the Navy’s existing “connector” craft that would ferry materiel from ship to shore are difficult to load in all but calm seas.

In its shipbuilding plan for 2007, the Navy includes a concept for a new type of ship, the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP), or “floating beach,” that would serve as the link between transport ships and connectors such as the Navy Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC).

At the sea base, the MLP would take on cargo from the huge transports that provide much of the military’s sealift, and then semi-submerge, creating a floating platform from which landing craft can pick up cargo and carry it ashore.

The essence of sea basing is that U.S. forces responding to international crises would no longer establish beachheads containing mountains of materiel, huge headquarters and troop staging areas similar to those created in Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Beginning in about 2015, those functions would be moved offshore to a sea base comprised in part by the Maritime Prepositioning Force (Future), or MPF(F), a planned squadron of 14 vessels including amphibious ships, transport vessels and the novel MLP. A planning objective of the sea basing concept is to move two battalions totaling 2,400 Marines to an objective ashore overnight.

A huge gap in the concept is the lack of connectors, the ships and aircraft that would rapidly transport troops and their materiel from the sea base to tactical objectives ashore. The Navy does not have enough connectors, and those that exist do not work well with existing transport ships. U.S. forces need new technologies — or interfaces — that would foster the rapid transfer of cargo from ship to ship. The purpose of the MLP concept is to plug part of that gap.

Still in an early developmental stage, the MLP could be “our pier in the ocean,” said Navy Capt. Patricia Sudol, program manager for support ships, boats and craft for the Navy’s program executive office for ships.

The idea for creating an at-sea beach dates back more than 15 years, according to Dan Wilkins, director of engineering for CDI Marine, a marine engineering and design company specializing in ship and boat design and construction.

At that time, tests of the concept involved the operation of LCACs and the Army’s cushion craft with barge modules. Later, the idea of building an integrated landing platform onto cargo ships was tested but, in the end, the transfer of cargo was slow and costly. Once today’s concept of the MPF(F) began to take shape, the need for MLP-like capability was clear.

The basic concept appears simple. An MLP would side up to a large, roll-on/roll-off ship filled with cargo. The cargo would be rolled off the ship and onto the MLP. That cargo could then be loaded onto LCACs, which would quickly ferry it to shore. Early concepts of the MLP would have it carry up to six LCACs.

Quickly transferring cargo from ship to ship while in heavy seas poses numerous challenges, such as how to compensate for the relative motion between two differently sized ships, how to account for high winds, and how to conduct different offloads safely and efficiently when some of the cargo is simultaneously being taken ashore via aircraft. Industry is already working to tackle these issues.

“We’re actively developing solutions for the MLP,” said Barbara Garrow, a spokeswoman for Maersk Line Limited, a global provider of logistics, maritime and transportation services to the government.

Sudol said the MLP also will be interoperable with the Joint High Speed Vessel, a future high-speed ship that would haul troops, equipment and cargo between large ships and small ports with limited access.

The MLP is to be the only newly designed ship for the MPF(F), and the Navy and Marine Corps have only notional ideas of what it would look like. The MPF(F) squadron would comprise three MLPs, along with two LHA Replacement large-deck amphibious ships, one LHD large-deck amphibious ship, three T-AKE cargo ships, three Large/Medium Speed Roll-on/Roll-off cargo ships and two legacy maritime prepositioning ships taken from existing squadrons.

MPF(F) ships will be capable of prepositioning critical equipment and 20 days of supplies for a future Marine Expeditionary Brigade. According to the Marine Corps’ directory, “Concepts + Programs 2006,” an MLP would be operated at speeds up to 20 knots by a crew of 64, and contain approximately 1,500 berths.

“MLP will provide an independent interface between transport ships and surface connectors such as [LCACs] and the future sea-base-to-shore connector,” Sudol said. “For joint operations, MLP represents a potential universal interface for Navy and Army ships and small craft.”

The MLP also could be used to transport causeway sections, berthing barges, containers and additional LCACs.

Last October, the MLP concept was tested off the coast of San Diego and in Puget Sound, Wash. Acting in the role of the MLP, the demonstration utilized the Military Sealift Command-chartered heavy lift ship MV Mighty Servant I, and the USNS Watkins served as the Large/Medium Speed Roll-on/Roll-off ship.

During the first test, which took place at Puget Sound, the two ships moored together while at anchor in calm waters. Cargo was then moved back and forth between the two ships using the Watkins’ side ramp.

The second phase, which took place off San Diego, demonstrated the ability to load cargo from the Mighty Servant I to LCACs, which could then ferry the cargo ashore.

First construction for the MLP tentatively is scheduled in fiscal year 2009.