N95: Accelerate buys of big amphibs

ARLINGTON, Va. – In an attempt to address a “capacity problem” in the amphibious ship fleet, Maj. Gen. David Coffman, CNO’s director of expeditionary warfare (N95), wants to grow the construction of new amphibious assault ships and stop long-term upgrades for aging Dock Landing ships (LSD). The aging Whidbey Island-LSDs (41/49) will be replaced one-for-one with the more capable San Antonio-class Flight II amphibious transport dock ships (LPD), once built and delivered in the 2020s. Until then, Coffman wants to stop bringing LSDs up to capability and return them to the fleet to haul stuff around. But Congress pushed the Navy to modernize cruisers and LSDs. For the amphibs, it called for taking three LSDs and putting them on a reduced ops schedule until major C5I upgrades are made, and bring them back to the fleet with an extended service life and more war-fighting power. USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) and USS Germantown (LSD-42) are included in Congress’ life extension plans. Coffman is interested in modernizing the original 13 Flight I LPDs in their mid-life service. As the LPD Flight II ships are built through the decade – through annual block buy contracts – USS San Antonio (LPD-17) and early LPDs will be approaching their mid-life availabilities. Under an Amphibious Warship Evolution Plan, Coffman says advances built into Flight II LPDs could be back-fitted into older Flight Is that would increase commonality between both types. For big-deck amphibs, Coffman proposed accelerating buy timelines and investing in a massive mid-life upgrade to increase the capability/capacity within the LHA/LHD fleet. The Navy wants 12 amphibious assault ships to complement the 26 combined LPD Flight I and II ships. However, with the future Bougainville (LHA-8) under construction at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi, a gap in production before the Navy buys LHA-9 (in 2024) causes risk to HII of losing experienced workers and missing out on lower costs of serial production. But the Navy puts at risk its ability to have 12 big decks in the fleet with USS Wasp’s (LHD-1) scheduled retirement in 2029. (Source: USNI News 01/22/19) Gulf Coast Note: HII-Pascagoula builds LPD and LHA classes of amphibs.