Military Sealift Command is making Marine-driven changes to its nontraditional fleet to give amphibious forces a greater edge on an ever-evolving battlefield. The developments promise to advance the Corps’ use of alternative platforms for everything from maritime security and riverine missions to disaster response and flight operations.
The MV-22 is also key to this new concept. Its ability to deliver forces hundreds of miles from a host ship could enable, for example, forces to fall in on an existing missile battery or establish advanced bases in multiple locations across an archipelago like the Philippines, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments who previously served as special assistant to the chief of naval operations and director of his Commander’s Action Group.
As such, one key conversion will enable dry cargo and ammunition ships to stow an MV-22 Osprey.
MSC dedicated two dry cargo and ammunition ships (the two oldest) to the Marine Corps pre-positioning fleet: Lewis and Clark, and Sacagawea. They provide ammunition, food, repair parts, stores and small quantities of fuel — but the aft flight deck is a highlight among Marine strategists who have used ships from the T-AKE class as alternate command, control, operational and logistics platforms in recent exercises.
Landing an Osprey is not enough. The Corps has asked for a converted hangar that will allow an MV-22 to be folded and stowed. Sacagawea will receive these modifications during a regular overhaul planned to run from October through January, said John Thackrah, MSC’s executive director. Lewis and Clark is scheduled to receive the same modification during its regular overhaul in June 2018. There are no plans to install the hangar modification on the remaining 12 combat logistics force T-AKEs, though all are capable of landing an MV-22.
“This is good because today we often do not exploit the full capacity of T-AKEs,” Clark said.
Dry cargo and ammo ships aren’t the only ones slated for an amphibious upgrade. Two expeditionary fast transports — Spearhead and Trenton — have upgraded cranes that allow boats and personnel to launch from the mission bay. That modification will eventually be added to all EPF ships, Thackrah said.
The change was largely driven by special operators as well as riverine and diving teams that have deployed aboard. The ship’s crane is there to lift the life boat into the water. Operators want a crane that can lift 11-meter rigid inflatable boats, or RIBs, into the water.
The Navy can also use the EPFs to deliver Marine forces to distributed advanced bases when they want to deliver larger items such as missile launchers and sensors along with the amphibious forces, according to Clark. The new ramps and crane will help make that possible. These operations could be supported by ESBs and special operations forces deployed from them.
The ships are well suited to observe, collect and deliver, but there are limits. Because it is a USNS ship, rather than USS, it cannot conduct “belligerent acts.” While the shallow-draft catamaran can quickly move troops deep into littoral areas, it has no mounted guns or defense systems. And a reasonable explosion would likely tear through the commercial-based aluminum vessel.
In fact, its weak structure requires the ship be delivered to theater and remain there.
“They do not do well in rough seas,” Thackrah said. “They are a ship based off the design of a commercial ferryboat. There is a safe operating envelope for the ship, and they are proving that if you violate the safe operating envelope, you can wrinkle them up. But this is not an open-ocean vessel. This is a near-shore, high-speed vessel.”
Many hulls have cracked and been damaged by strong seas. This was evident when Fall River, the fourth ship in the class, was sidelined by one rogue wave off the coast of Florida. MSC has since started reinforcing the bow structure.
There are five EPFs in service, seven have been delivered, and the total buy will be 12. All will be delivered by decade’s end. The question is whether 12 will be enough to provide the capabilities needed in various regions. There are rumblings in the Pentagon that more of these comparably inexpensive and easy-to-build vessels will be requested.
“Only time will tell,” Thackrah said. “As we learn more about the EPF capability, I think there will be a strong desire for more. That will generate a requirement. Whether we can fulfill that or not budgetarily, that’s the wild card. But there will be a generated requirement for more of these than the 12 we have planned. I firmly believe that.”
MSC is not at a point where it has had to say “no” to any EPF missions due to lack of availability, but the interest in and versatility of these vessels are increasing by the day. Spearhead has completed six deployments in five years, which have included everything from Africa Partnership Station to contingency operations during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“What we do have to say no to is trying to put too many ideas on the same boat. We have run into that,” he said. The ships have been used to do “anything and everything you can dream of. What these guys are thinking of is just fascinating.”
Lance M. Bacon is senior reporter for Marine Corps Times. He covers Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Marine Corps Forces Command, personnel / career issues, Marine Corps Logistics Command, II MEF, and Marine Forces North. He can be reached at lbacon@marinecorpstimes.com.
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Marine-driven changes make 2 ships more lethal
