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| -Total displacement = 9000 tons -Length = 142.9 meters -Width = 21.5 meters -Flight deck with two runways and landing pads for heavy-lift helicopters in the extremities and 30-ton lift in the central part of the deck -The power plant includes two diesel engines Wärtsilä 12V32 rated at 6000 kW -The maximum speed = 20 knots -Cruising range = 11,265 km -Generation of electricity will be provided by four diesel generators Isotta Fraschini V1716 C2ME capacity of 1300 kW and one emergency V1708 T3 of 600 kW -Armament includes MBDA SAAM-ESD (Aster missiles + A50 launcher Sylver) behind the island superstructure + Oto Melara 76/62 Super Rapid + 2 Single 25mm -The electronic structure will include Selex Sistemi Integrati EMPAR + AESA radar of CICS Athena-C + navigation radar and flight control by -gosopoznavaniya SIR + Communication system supplied by Selex Elsag + EW systems produced by Elettronica and Thales + two SCLAR-H decoy launchers -The Algerian helicopter landing ship dock can accommodate 3 Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) + 3 small Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) + 1 large Landing Craft Personnel (LCP) + 2 semi-rigid boats. The garage can accommodate up to 15 armored vehicles. -The crew = 150 people -The landing force = 440 people |
I look at this ship and lust after it for the US Navy and Marine Corps. Have you noticed something about the US Amphibious Fleet? The further we move away from actual combat at sea (talking WW2.....the last extensive at sea fight) the bigger our ships have gotten. When you must land the landing force, you don't put all your eggs in one basket or even a couple of baskets...you spread it out to make it resilient.
In the 1960's the USMC spread a MEU among a LPH, LPD, LSD and LST. Today? You can fit the entire MEU aboard an LHD and LPD. Knock out one of those ships and you basically kill 50% of a potential landing force. Knock out the LPD and you take away most of the MEU's ground mobility.
Smaller, more numerous and simpler Amphibs might be what we should be investing in. Which is more flexible. Five 9,000 ton LHDs or one 45,000 ton LHA?
That looks similar to the Italian Navy's San Giorgio-class amphibious transport dock. Here's the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Giorgio_class_amphibious_transport_dock
ReplyDeleteI would think an LPD such as the San Giorgio-class amphibious transport dock would be perfect for a medium sized country that wants a Helicopter based LPD such as the San Giorgio-class amphibious transport dock.
I love seeing that 76mm super rapid on a LHD .Great gun that can deal with all sorts of threats.
ReplyDeleteThis platform seems in keeping with Admiral Tortora's goals on shipbuilding in the Middle East as espoused in Abu Dhabi last year. It is a modified (modernized) version of the San Giorgio Class. A class that the Italian Navy is looking to replace with more capable ships themselves.
ReplyDeleteCommissioned from Horizons Sistemi Navali (a joint venture of Fincantieri and Selex Sistemi Integrati). The Algerian Ship is derived from the Italian class San Giusto launched at the Riva Trigoso of Genoa, with the name of Kalaat Beni-Abbes.
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ReplyDeleteThe downside to this vessel is that they are built to Maritime standards and not Naval standards. In other words less armor, less internal compartmentalization and in general - less survivable if it ever sees combat, even less survivable than it's appearance suggests. Also the sound isolation systems are poor and it would make an easy target for a submarine.
ReplyDeleteLove your site here Sol and your insight, and that of your guests... BTW!
This ship will sit in port till May of this year as the crews are still being trained (the initial crew has to understand Italian to receive this training, though I understand that some of it is being conducted in French). After that - outside of show the flag stuff... it's likely to never be far from one of the Soviet built frigates the Algerians have.
thanks. i appreciate it.
DeleteYou need bigger ships to execute the over the horizon landing.
ReplyDeleteyeah the san antonio class isn't that much bigger than this but it doesn't have enough aviation space for oth alone, you need jumpjets and attack helicopters to make it work.
Deleteyou don't need larger ships for over the horizon assault. you just need the right landing craft or as the Navy calls it, ship to shore connectors. LCACs can fit smaller size amphibs, the S. Koreans and the Japanese prove it. besides, 99.9 percent of operations don't require over the horizon assault, but do require presence patrols or pumps. if you're talking about dispersed operations from the sea and dispersed amphibious groups then smaller yet more capable ships are the way to go. not bigger more luxurious expensive ones!
DeleteYou would need something on the level of the Juan Carlos I LHD, Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship,Wasp-class amphibious assault ship or the America-class amphibious assault ship. Landing helicopter dock's are becoming the pocket carriers for countries that can't afford a super carrier but want a multi-purpose carrier. So ships like the Juan Carlos I LHD, Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship,Wasp-class amphibious assault ship or the America-class amphibious assault ship are becoming a hot item and I suspect within the next 10 to 20 yrs more countries will look to LHD's for their force projection. I am hedging my bets that within the next 10 to 20 yrs an LHD on the level of Juan Carlos I LHD, Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship,Wasp-class amphibious assault ship or the America-class amphibious assault ship will make it's way to South America or even Africa as well.
DeleteYou're losing me now. Now I was good with adding smaller ones till you said they were more capable than the larger ones. Its easy to get caught up with the force multiplier fever.
ReplyDeleteIts very easy to short marines on CAPs, CAS, and C2 when you get into the small boat business. Sea basing with a secure C2 and a miniature air force can make the difference in whether of not you have to task a super carrier to secure the beach head in an easy landing.
And if the coastline needs to be bombarded its the difference in whether the boat can do anything to help or not.
Then there are other considerations like the hospital facilities. A contested landing or the medium to high intensity combat that follows is wrought with casualties and if there isn't a substantial hospital facility on the ship, the death to wounded rate will at least quadruple in the period before the MASH units arrive.
And if there's retreat the ship's facilities will be the only facilities.
more capable as in having the same features as a larger ship...just a smaller package.
Deletethe issue is over the horizon assault. that's a myth now. missiles have too much range, you're still going to have to roll back defenses. even if you're talking about a window you still need to do anti-ship missile suppression, and desstruction of the enemy navy.
If you look at the fleets of WWII you'll see a lot of smaller ships landing larger amounts of less mechanized infantry. If we had a conflict of that scale to day we would be in a much better position to land larger forces with much better equipment and bigger growth potential.
DeleteLOL if you time warped a wasp class to the island battles in the pacific those old farts would have put 20,000 troops on it.
the old skool guys would have done no such thing. they had ships the size of the titanic if they wanted to use those as assault ships but they didn't. too many men in one basket with the possibility of a torpedo killing that many men is something they would never have bought into and didn't.
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