I know a certain guy that will cheer the fact that this new ship will be getting a crane. Its still a monster of a ship and I wonder if the Marine Corps isn't getting more capability than necessary. The current LPD carries 800 Marines! The next gen LHA will exceed that number and carry over 1500! We're getting less shipping but more carriage.
I'm beginning to think that Mike at New Wars was right. Smaller might be better. In the future, if we lose one ship to a lucky torpedo or air attack we could be facing the loss of an entire Battalion plus of Marines. That's not acceptable.
