A medium landing ship is only 200-400 feet long and has a loading ramp, a helicopter landing pad, several light machine guns for self-defense, a crew of 70, a platoon of 50 Marines, and 650 tons of weapons and supplies. It has a range of 3,500 miles, a speed of 14 knots, and a harmless appearance that makes it very hard for civilian maritime traffic to spot it. This makes it stealthy and survivable in Chinese waters without the heavy protection of a navy. Like the Q-ships of World War II, landing ships carry out their missions by disguising themselves as merchant ships.
The idea is to land Marines on LSMs on remote islands in the so-called “First Island Chain” that stretches from the Philippines to Japan. The Marines would use the island bases as unsinkable weapons platforms to launch drones and missiles to hunt down Chinese warships, then retreat back to their landing craft before Chinese forces arrive in force.
As of 2023, the Navy was planning to buy at least 18 and up to 35 medium amphibious ships starting that year, at a cost of $150 million each. But the first ships won’t be laid down until 2025 at the earliest, and the cost could rise to $400 million each. Some of the price hike is due to inflation, but so is the design. The Navy is leaning toward larger versions of the ships.
Prices could rise or fall before workers even cut the first bar of steel, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office report.
“For example, if the Navy were to redesign its ships to be more like amphibious ships than merchant ships, the cost per LSM could be between $475 million and $600 million,” CBO explained.
“Conversely,” the CBO added, “ships built to commercial standards with few improvements could cost between $110 million and $140 million per ship.”
Don’t expect the latter to happen: The Navy, and indeed the entire U.S. military, will most likely adopt heavier, more bespoke weapons systems. In fact, the trend toward more complex designs is one of the reasons for delays to other warship programs.
So these new amphibious ships are expected to arrive late and over budget. If construction really does begin in 2025, the first ships could be commissioned in 2029, a full decade after the Marines finalized their new island-hopping strategy.
If there’s one good thing about the Marines, it’s that things could have been a lot worse. The Navy and Marines have been battling for years over the shape of the future U.S. fleet. The Marines have always maintained that they need about 34 large landing ships, including 800-foot-long large-deck helicopter carriers and 700-foot-long transports, rather than 400-foot-long medium landing ships, to land Marine battalions for major operations.
The Navy, on the other hand, has always felt that its large landing ships could not survive without escorts in a fight against a heavily armed enemy like China, and it cannot afford to provide escorts for so many landing ships. The Navy also dislikes having to provide crew for the ships that are platforms for Marine Corps aircraft and landing forces. The Navy has long resisted Marine Corps efforts, often successful, to introduce landing ships, pushed by Washington politicians.
After much bureaucratic debate, the two militaries finally settled on a new minimum fleet size for the amphibious force in 2022: 31 large ships and at least 18 medium landing ships.
For such an important feature, better late than never, right?
