Amphibious Assualt Ships?

• laser51088

  1 Feb 03, 22:23

  Erm. . . firstly, what do you people expect of an amphibious assault ship?? must it only carry units or does it need a land attack capability? complex self-defense systems??? what do you have in mind for an ideal amphibious assualt ship?
  
  Any good ones you wanna elaborate on??? (Wasp? Ocean? San Gorgio?)
  
  And erm, anyone care to explain the terms LHD, LHA, LSD, LST, etc, etc ,etc. I know what they stand for, like Landing ship dock or landing ship tank. . . but whats the diff in all of them?? (eg. which has doors aft and which has doors astern??)
  
  Lastly, it would also be nice to see your opinions regarding air-cushioned craft (hovercraft) used in military roles here. . .(eg. Zubr)
  
  I know this certain limited aspects of this type of ships been mentioned elsewhere on this forums, but just get it all down here . ..
  
  P.S. This thread should peferably not be country specific.
  
  Thx.
• SingaporeTyrannosaur

  2 Feb 03, 00:28

  LST=Large Slow Target
  
  For Malaysia that is...
• Shotgun

  2 Feb 03, 00:29

  I only understand naval assault transports as 2 types. Please enlighten me too.
  
  1. Assault Transport Ships, such as LSTs... carries troops and vehicles to land on beaches.
  
  2. Mini-aircraft carriers that carry transport helicopters and VTOL fighters like the harrier.
• Atobe

  3 Feb 03, 05:12

  The US Navy operates a number of Amphibious Expeditionary Force that has dedicated missions which include 'force projection' into hostile territories.
  
  These Amphibious Expeditionary Force falls under the command of the US Marines, which is a component of the US Navy.
  
  There are quite a few combination of amphibious vessels to transort the ships from home to the theatre of operation.
  
  The Aircraft Carrier of vintage World War 2 design has largely been used, the initial type being the Tawara Class with a rear entry to a sheltered dock within the Carrier.
  
  These types of vessels are terms as LHA, with the flight deck able to accomodate several heavy helicopters landing and take off simultaneously.
  
  The Marines can be ferried to hostile territory by CH-52 or CH-42 Helicopters, or the future Osprey MV-22 VTOL Aircraft, or they can embark in the sheltered dock onto Landing Craft Air Cushioned (which are basically Heavy Lift Hover-Crafts).
  
  An improvement to the LHA class Carriers were subsequently built, and named the LHD; and a future type with new hull designs are being planned - and presently designated as LHX.
  
  
  
  
  
  View from within the dock, watching the entry of a Landing Craft Utility.
  
  The LSD are actually landing ship docks, similar to our Endurance Class of Landing Ship Dock that replaced the WW2 LST (landing ship tank).
  
  The flight deck can only accomodate two heavy lift helicopter, and leads into a hangar, while the dock area is entered from the rear of the ship.
  
  This design is to allow soldiers to board landing crafts utility or landing craft air cushion in the safety of a sheltered dock area.
  
  Seen below is a future LPD-17 San Antonio designed for the USN
  
  
  Seen below is LPD-49 Harpers Ferry class,
  
  
  Although ST Engineering has followed the LPD design, she prefer to call the new Endurance Class an LST.
  
  The LPD operated by the USN do not have the forward ramp-door opening that allow "Roll-on and Roll-off" (RoRo) access, unlike the LST Endurance class built by ST Engineering Marine for the Singapore Navy.
  The Singapore Navy Endurance Class LST carry its LCU as Life Boats as well (see below).
  
  
  
  For more information of the RSN Endurance LST, visit the following web site of ST Engineering:
  http://www.stengg.com/downloads/mari_140LST.pdf