asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
I think they are kept in low ready state, so they maybe dont sail unless required
US NAvy T-AKR Roll on/Roll Off military sea lift vessels
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
it is said that if all 8 of the Algol transports were loaded they could lift a entire US Army mechanized division
they are the size of aircraft carriers, if there is one thing Americans like to have, that is to have a inexhaustible supply of materials, whenever they travel they take so much supply and cargo with them, in addition to Ammunition, weapons, vehicles and fuel
for Afghanistan route all non-combat and some combat supplys go through Pakistan, or a vast majority used to, and they docked at Karachi port, which has a dedicated section just for supplys going to Afghanistan, and its massive! the container pile up is enough for a big citys container port terminal, ISAF and NATO also are supplied via same dockyard
they are the size of aircraft carriers, if there is one thing Americans like to have, that is to have a inexhaustible supply of materials, whenever they travel they take so much supply and cargo with them, in addition to Ammunition, weapons, vehicles and fuel
for Afghanistan route all non-combat and some combat supplys go through Pakistan, or a vast majority used to, and they docked at Karachi port, which has a dedicated section just for supplys going to Afghanistan, and its massive! the container pile up is enough for a big citys container port terminal, ISAF and NATO also are supplied via same dockyard
They rotate them in and out of pre-positioning status for the LMSR vessels, regular testing their systems wherever they are ported (ie. Diego Garcia) and the equipment they carry. They then are regularly rotated out and replaced by others of the fifteen vessels at those pre-positioned sites.
As to the FSS. They are also regularly trested and conduct exercises just like any other Naval asset, and then conduct maintenance as scheduled.
IOW, they are kept active in peace time, either practicing or, in the case of the pre-positionied vessels, fulfilling their missions.
We have just talked about the 27 really large vessels here. There are another couple of dozen "smaller" RORO and other similar vessels (weighing in the 30,000+ ton range) that do the same.
You need so many large transports if you want to be able to invade and occupy a medium size country. China isn't in that game. For one thing if they wanted to invade a country the US would very likely intervene. And for another seeing the results of the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan they won't want to.
For me I think these very impressive vessels rather reinforce the notion of just how reliant the US is on Maritime Transport to be able to get men and material to where the action is.
Unlike continental hinterland, you can never be sure about the presence/location of powerful enemy forces in the Oceans and the dangers and resulting costs of successful interdiction are severe. I remember the Atlantic Conveyor Incident during the Falklands very well.
So not to take anything away from these marvellous pieces of Engineering, I can see how they represent limitations to power projection just as clearly as they represent capabilities.
Unlike continental hinterland, you can never be sure about the presence/location of powerful enemy forces in the Oceans and the dangers and resulting costs of successful interdiction are severe. I remember the Atlantic Conveyor Incident during the Falklands very well.
So not to take anything away from these marvellous pieces of Engineering, I can see how they represent limitations to power projection just as clearly as they represent capabilities.
They clearly have to be protected.
The US has operated in an environmnet for the last 25 years where there was very little chance that anyone could, or would, represent a threat of attacking such ships. That will not always be the case. So, making sure that these vessels in a time of war have adequate defenses will be paramount if there is any chance at all that they may be hunted by enemy submarines, aircraft, or surface combatants.
This would mean that these vessels, in such conditions, would probably travel in groups protected by DDGs, FFGs, and prossibly even SSNs when you consider the amount of material each one carries.
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Is any of these guys stationed in Baltimore's inner harbour? I was over there this weekend and was convinced that I saw two of them.
Officially these ships have no offical homeport. But you may have seen a couple.