The Ship Model Forum

Top Marine General Wants a New Class of 'Light' Amphibious Warship
13 Feb 2020
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
The sea services have laid out potential requirements for a "light" amphibious ship, the top Marine general said this week, raising the possibility that the Navy's upcoming force-structure assessment will include new types of vessels.
The Navy and Marine Corps will still rely on big-deck amphibious assault ships, Commandant Gen. David Berger told shipbuilders and members of Congress at a Tuesday event hosted by the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition. But they're also going to need something new over the next decade, he added.
"We need a light amphibious warship -- a lot of them -- that we don't have today," Berger said.
The commandant declined to answer questions about how many Marines, aircraft and weapons those ships could carry, citing the yet-to-be-finalized force-structure assessment that will lay out the number and types of platforms the Navy will need in the next decade.
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US Marines wants to move fast on a light amphibious warship. But what is it?
By: David B. Larter   1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps is moving as fast as it can to field a new class of light amphibious warship, but it remains unclear what it will do, where it will be based or what capabilities it will bring to the fight.
The idea behind the ship is to take a commercial design or adapt a historic design to make a vessel capable of accommodating up to 40 sailors and at least 75 Marines to transport Marine kit over a range of about 3,500 nautical miles, according to a recent industry day presentation.
While the presentation noted that the ship should have few tailored Navy requirements, that also creates a problem: If the Navy is going to pay tens of millions to develop, build, crew and operate them, should it not provide some additional value to the fleet?
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Navy's Future Light Amphibious Ships Will Be Designed to Operate Off China's Coast
11 Dec 2020
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
New warships that will be capable of delivering 75 Marines straight from the sea onto a beach will operate in and around the first chain of islands off China's coast.
A new Navy shipbuilding plan released this week calls for building 10 light amphibious warships that can transport up to 75 Marines. The ships will operate independently of the amphibious ready groups with which Marine expeditionary units typically deploy.
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