U.S. Navy Plans to Order U.S. Army's Landing Ship for the Marine Corps

The U.S. Navy is preparing to resolve its long debate with the Marine Corps over the fate of the Landing Ship Medium (LSM), the amphibious force's small transport for inter-island warfare in the Pacific. On April 7, Naval Sea Systems Command quietly issued notice that it plans to award Bollinger a sole-source contract to build one lead-ship LSM based on the U.S. Army's Gen. Frank S. Besson-class.

The ship that the U.S. Navy plans to buy is based on a revised version of the Army design that Bollinger-owned VT Halter built for the Israeli Navy. In Israeli service, this variant makes 14 knots with a cargo of up to 2,000 tonnes in deep-draft pier-to-pier mode, with a lesser payload for beaching operations. The design has a bow visor for better seakeeping in open water, rather than the original Besson-class' flat ramp.

INS Nahshon (IDF image)

The class also has a stern ramp that can be used to load and offload while Med-moored at a pier. In U.S. Army service, the ramp facilitates drive-through ro/ro cargo transloading for the complex Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) transfer system.

Unless it is to be heavily modified, the IDF's Besson variant does not have a suite of high-end air defense or surface warfare weaponry. The long Navy-Marine Corps fight over the LSM's fate hinged on whether there would be a few highly survivable and very expensive hulls - the Navy's preference - or whether there would be a large number of less expensive ships built to a less stringent standard, as the Marine Corps demanded. The Besson-class appears to land further towards the Marine Corps' version: it is serviceable enough to be the primary landing and logistics ship for the U.S. Army, and for the Israeli Navy, but it is not an exquisite naval weapons platform (unless up-armed).

As first reported by USNI, NAVSEA is also buying the technical data package for the Damen LST 100, a popular landing ship design of comparable size and specifications - but equipped with an enclosed foredeck and an aft helideck. The LST 100 is in use by the Nigerian Navy and was recently ordered by the Australian Army.

A Nigerian Navy Damen LST 100 on delivery (Damen)