Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Cydebot (talk | contribs) at 13:14, 24 December 2011 (Robot - Moving category United States Navy proposed ships to Category:Proposed ships of the United States Navy per CFD at Misplaced Pages:Categories for discussion/Log/2011 November 24.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

USNS Watkins (back) and heavy lift ship MV Mighty Servant 1 moored side-by-side off San Diego during a demonstration of the Mobile Landing Platform concept in 2005.
Class overview
Builders	General Dynamics
Operators	United States Navy
Planned	3
Building	1
General characteristics
Length	837 ft (255 m)
Beam	164 ft (50 m)
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Range	9,500 nautical miles (17,600 km; 10,900 mi)
Boats & landing craft carried	3 LCAC

The Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) is a type of amphibious assault ship being constructed for the United States Navy, with the first ship due to enter service in 2015. MLP ships are to serve as floating bases for amphibious operations, and operate as a transfer point between large ships and small landing craft. Proof-of-concept testing began in 2005, with heavy lift ships serving as substitutes for the MLPs. General Dynamics' National Steel and Shipbuilding Company was awarded a contract to design and build the first ship in late 2010, with construction beginning in July 2011. The United States Navy initially plans to acquire three vessels.

Design

The Mobile Landing Platform concept calls for a large auxiliary support ship to facilitate the 'seabasing' of an amphibious landing force by acting as a floating base or transfer station that can be prepositioned off the target area. Troops, equipment, and cargo would be transferred to the MLP by large-draft ships, from where it can be moved ashore by shallower-draft vessels, landing craft like the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), or helicopters. In order to transfer vehicles to the larger ships to the MLP, the vessels were originally to be fitted with a Vehicle Transfer System; a ramp connecting the two ships alongside, and able to compensate for the movements of both vessels while underway.

A preliminary design by General Dynamics envisioned a ship that carried six LCACs, with the ability to turn-around (dock, unload or load, then launch) two landing craft simultaneously. The MLPs were to host a brigade-size force, sail at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), and have a maximum range of 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km; 10,000 mi). Each ship was to cost US$1.5 billion to build. However, cutbacks to defense spending planned for the Fiscal Year 2011 budget forced the downscaling of the design in mid 2009.

General Dynamics identified the civilian Alaska-class oil tanker (built by the subsidiary National Steel and Shipbuilding Company) as a suitable basis for an "MLP 'Lite'", with the design modified into a float-on/float-off vessel that could be built for only US$500 million per ship. As part of the cost tradeoff, the Vehicle Transfer System was scrapped in favour of skin-to-skin mooring of a host ship alongside the MLP, and the LCAC complement was reduced to three. The new design is 837 feet (255 m) long, with a beam of 164 feet (50 m), a top speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), and a maximum range of 9,500 nautical miles (17,600 km; 10,900 mi).

Concept testing

In September 2005, the United States Navy approved trials of the MLP concept, to test the feasibility of seabasing for an amphibious operation. The heavy lift ship MV Mighty Servant 1 served as the substitute for the MLP, while the Roll-on/roll-off vessel USNS Watkins played the role of a planned type of transport ship for the United States Maritime Prepositioning Force. The first part of the trial consisted of the two ships transferring cargo between themselves while anchored in Puget Sound. After successfully completing this, the vessels sailed to San Diego, where cargo was transferred from Watkins to Mighty Servant 1, then taken ashore by LCACs; slightly submerging the deck of the heavy lift ship allowed the hovercraft to "'fly' aboard".

A second series of tests was conducted off Norfolk, Virginia in September and October 2006, with USNS Red Cloud and MV Mighty Servant 3. This time, the ships were moored together while underway, during which vehicles drove from Red Cloud onto Mighty Servant 3, then embarked aboard LCACs. In February 2010, Mighty Servant 3 joined USNS Soderman for further trials in the Gulf of Mexico. During these, personnel and a wide range of vehicles, from Humvees to M1 Abrams tanks, were transferred to, then launched from Mighty Servant 3, in conditions up to Sea State 4.

Construction

In August 2010, the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego was awarded a US$115 million contract to design the Mobile Landing Platform, and build the first ship. Construction on the first vessel began in July 2011.

The propulsion motors are of British design and build. Power conversion company Converteam was selected as the supplier of Integrated Power Systems with the award of an additional contract to design and supply the electric power, propulsion and vessel automation system for the MLP.

Orders for the second and third vessels are expected to be made in the 2013 and 2015 fiscal years. The first ship is to be operational by 2015, with the third in service by 2018.

References

1. ^ "The US Navy's Mobile Landing Platform Ships". Defense Industry Daily. Watershed Publishing. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
2. ^ "Mobile Landing Platform [MLP]". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
3. ^ Scott, Richard (30 September 2010). "Floating world: US Navy eyes Mobile Landing Platform as sea base pontoon". International Defence Review. Jane's Information Group.
4. Robbins, Gary (14 August 2010). "General Dynamics gets $115M for 'pier at sea'". San Diego Union-Tribune. The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
5. "Construction Begins on First Mobile Landing Platform". United States Navy. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
6. http://www.converteam.com/majic/pageServer/12040001bb0000/en/20110803-US-Navy-Mobile-Landing-Platform.html

• Proposed ships of the United States Navy
• Amphibious warfare vessels of the United States