The next thing my mythical fleet needs is a mothership/sea control/littoral support ship. My choice? The Mistral class.
Specs from Wikipedia...
| General characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Type: | landing platform helicopter |
| Displacement: | 16,500 tonnes (empty) 21,300 tonnes (full load) 32,300 tonnes (with ballasts) |
| Length: | 199 m (653 ft) |
| Beam: | 32 m (105 ft) |
| Draught: | 6.3 m (21 ft) |
| Installed power: | 3 Wärtsilä diesels-alternators 16 V32 (6.2 MW) + 1 Wärtsilä Vaasa auxiliary diesel-alternator 18V200 (3 MW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 Mermaid azimuth thrusters (2 × 7 MW), 2 5-bladed propellers |
| Speed: | 18.8 knots (35 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,800 km (5,800 nmi) at 18 knots (33 km/h) 19,800 kilometres (10,700 nmi) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: | 4 CTM (chaland de transport de matériel) alternatively, 2 LCAC (Landing Craft, Air Cushion) |
| Capacity: | 59 vehicles (including 13 Leclerc tanks) or a 40-strong Leclerc tank battalion |
| Troops: | 900 (short duration) 450 (long durations) 150 (serving as operational headquarters) |
| Complement: | 20 officers, 80 petty officers, 60 quarter-masters |
| Sensors and processing systems: | DRBN-38A Decca Bridgemaster E250 navigation radar MRR3D-NG air/surface sentry radar 2 optronic fire control systems |
| Armament: | 2 x Simbad systems 4 x 12.7 mm M2-HB Browning machine guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 16 heavy or 35 light helicopters |
| Aviation facilities: | 6 helicopter landing spots |
The vehicle capacity is really over kill, in my vision it'll be used for enhanced aviation and munitions storage. I'd fill this ship with Navy MH-60's armed to the gills and then I'd stuff the back end with Riverines and make this a US Navy Special Ops platform.
SOCOM would get its mothership, Riverines would get its mothership and NAVAIR would get a sea control beast from hell. MH-60's patrolling off the coast of Africa could shut down piracy in a week. In addition you'd have Riverines running patrols and SOCOM conducting raids from its deck.
What ship would be canned in order to bring this true mult-role ship to the fleet?
LCS.
What capability would we lose?
Mine hunting. Every other trick the LCS was expected to perform would be covered by these Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH). Its not much of a stretch either. They displace less than a San Antonio Class LPD so they would be considered relatively small ships. I envision a total of 4 being procured.
