Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group

LCS-3 Strikes Back

I keep going back and forth on these ships.

Are we in essence seeing the rebirth of what Destroyers were originally?  PT Boat destroyers or in the case of the LCS, small boat destroyers?  If that's the plan then the Navy needs to say it loud and proud.  It would help explain the high speed of these ships and would justify the rapid firing 57mm cannon.  I just don't know.  Either way check out the vid.

Brian "The Beast" Stann...

No bitching.  No crying.  No whinning allowed.  I bet his PT sessions are pure dee hell! 

AMERICAN BAD ASS!

45 Commando on exercise at Scottish Lion

Mythical Fleet. JHSV as a multirole platform.

Lee (thanks buddy) sent me info on the JHSV and its performance on its builders trials. 

It performed magnificently.  But check out this release...

USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1), the innovative high-speed catamaran transport ship under construction by shipbuilder Austal in Mobile, Alabama, successfully completed Builder's Sea Trials (BST) on April 19 in the Gulf of Mexico. The trials encompassed over 50 demonstration events that enabled the shipbuilder to rigorously test the ship and all of its systems in preparation for final inspection by the United States Navy before delivery.

Notable achievements during the trials included a demonstration of major systems along with first-of-class standardization and maneuverability trials, reaching a top speed in excess of 35 knots.
A series of high-speed ahead and astern maneuvers in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrated the effectiveness of the ship’s four steerable waterjets. In the course of repeated high-speed turns the ship demonstrated the stability and agility of the catamaran hullform, with the JHSV exhibiting virtually no heeling motions throughout the radical turns.
Upon returning from the full-power trial, Joe Rella, President and Chief Operating Officer of Austal USA, remarked: “The successful first run trials for this prototype vessel validates the quality and reliability of Austal’s shipbuilding know-how. I have never witnessed a more problem-free Builder’s Sea Trial than USNS Spearhead’s. The global Austal organization successfully participated in the design, procurement, and production of this ship with a great outcome, all being accomplished while locally, Austal USA continues to hire new workers and expand our facilities. This is a telltale sign of the dedication of our team of shipbuilding professionals.

On this one I'll admit that my views are "evolving"...

I think it has merit as a multirole ship.  Mike at New Wars must be laughing hysterically right now.  My conversion to his Fords not Cadillacs Navy is almost complete.  But my thinking on this I believe is sound.

If we're going to a containerized, module type system for various tasks then why not use a ship that can carry numerous models of the same?

It has the deck space to easily perform the anti-mine mission set, the only stopping point might be a need to reorganize the interior .

It should be capable of mounting missile launchers on it fantail/landing platform so that it can fire whatever missile the Navy chooses to fight off small boats at distance and of course it can act as a mother ship for Riverines/a fast transport for Marines conducting raids and a host of other missions.

Every mission that the LCS is designed to do with the exception of close combat can probably be better handled with a ship the size of the JHSV.

Conversion complete.

Toon of the week...

M27 IAR. Redesignate it M-16A5 and roll with it.

The concept is flawed but the weapon magnificent.

How about we cut to the chase and get an upgrade.

We're currently rocking M4's and M-16A4's.  They've been serviceable but they're lacking in many areas.  If we drop the concept of a hyper accurate Squad Automatic Weapon with limited capability to lay down suppressive fire and redesignate this weapon as our new M-16A5 I think we'll have a winner.

A couple of things will have to happen though.  First we're gonna have to admit (well someone is going to) that the concept for the Infantry Automatic Rifle is stone age thinking.  In hindsight its quite obvious that we don't need a modern day Browning Automatic Rifle.

Next we're going to have to admit that we lost something when we gave up automatic fire on our service rifles.

OK, I'll do it.  We fucked up and now its time to correct the mistake.  Let's get this done gents.

Consider it a necking down of our Infantry weapons...no more dual stocks of M4's and M-16A4's....just the M-16A5 formerly known as the M27 and life is good.  Well except for qualification day.  Standards are going to have to rise again.  But that's a good thing.