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I've been waiting for this.
Carriers are cool. But they don't signify a nations intent to be able to take and hold ground in distant lands. Yes, they can control air space, they can launch punitive air raids...they can even level cities...but they can't deliver and deploy forces to take and hold real estate.
An LHA can.
If they build in numbers and continue to work on the other pieces of their Marine Corps then we will be faced with an issue the USMC hasn't dealt with since the Cold War. The USMC will have to face fighting a conventional force, capable of landing at a spot of its choosing, backed with Carrier Aviation, using combined arms against our infantry.
At this moment the Chinese Marine Corps can in my opinion claim to have achieved at the very least equality with our Corps. HQMC can keep pimping humanitarian assistance and disaster relief but it better dust off simulations using the projected Chinese Order of Battle against our own forces before it happens in real life.
SIDE NOTE: Does anyone have a good definition of the difference between an LHA and a LHD? At one time their was a clear distinction between the two. LHA's could only land forces via aviation where a LHD used landing craft & aviation. That no longer seems to be a valid definition. Ideas? Or is this another case of creeping classification to a point where it no longer makes a difference.
Isn't that more accurately described as LHD? It does not seem to be capable to employ fixed wing aviation (at least not in the concept drawings) while the door to the dock is well visible.
ReplyDeleteok. you tell me what practical difference is between an LHA and a LHD .... i can't figure it out. they seem like interchangable designations. the USS Tarawa is classed as a LHD yet it operated Harriers without problem. the America Class is missing a well deck and its classed as an LHA so you tell me
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Deleteyou do realize that makes no sense at all don't you? do not have the capability to perform neccessary dry storage of supplies???? would have to drain excess water over the side of the ship???
DeleteSorry Google Chrome Mess Up. I was referring to what the Coast Guard refers to as a well deck for civilian and commercial boats.
DeleteThe main difference between a Landing Helicopter Assault Ship and a Landing Helicopter Dock is that a Landing Helicopter Assault ship will carry a less helicopters even though they will be a mix of heavy, medium, and light transport helicopters along with attack helicopters and upwards of 14 harrier jump jets, have more well decks designed for maintenance of aircraft and support vessels, and is utilized a combined air and sea offensive to take the beachhead.
A Landing Helicopter Dock will have more helicopters of which mostly will be transport helicopters and only 4 attack helicopters, upwards of only 8 harrier jump jets, and carry up to 6 Landing Craft Utility and or Landing Craft Air Cushion in which the helicopters of depending whether they are CH-53s, MV-22s, or CH47s will take all of the marines at once to secure the beachhead. Once the position is held, landing craft can come to shore with relative safety.
The irony of it all is that both classes of ships have used each others "strategic" purpose and tend to switch back and forth from both concepts of amphibious warfare. For example, the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) which is classified as a Landing Helicopter Dock, was outfitted during the 2006 crisis in Israel with an ensemble of transport and attack helicopters and 18 harrier jump jets. While the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) was carrying mostly all transport helicopters and would land unload equipment in Saudi Arabia that was tanks and combat engineering vehicles from Israel.
Honestly, both the LHA and the LHD should be re-classed as Amphibious Assault Ship (AAS)due to the fact that they can do both military doctrines on how to get both man and machine on to the beach with proper air support and method of landing craft.
Could the difference between LHA and LHD boil down to something as simple as the amount of landing craft carried? Its not much of a distinction, but its a possibility.
ReplyDeletei have no idea. naval designations have become a joke. look at the Singapore Navy. what we would call a LPD is called an LST by them.
DeleteIt looks like the Chinese copied the concepts from the Mistral class LHD and made a stretched version of the Mistral class LHD. If they built it, it would be a knock-off of the Mistral class and the chinese would be able to flood the market with cheap versions of the mistral class.
ReplyDeleteIf we are going to fight China we need F-35s Sol
ReplyDelete"At this moment the Chinese Marine Corps can in my opinion claim to have achieved at the very least equality with our Corps."
guess how I know you never served in the US Marines? The Chicoms builds a new ship and suddenly they are US Marines!? Wow.