Some good info on the details
Off-topic posts will be deleted
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Mulberry
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This is totally political. A sh-t show. The Prez said NO boots on the ground. Who is going to provide security? Who is the Beachmaster going to be? Who is going to handle the logistics once the supplies are on the Beach. The Palestinians can not be trusted as Hamas is completely embedded in all evolutionās there. It will all be stolen again with no real hunger relief for the people.
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JLOTS to the rescue I suppose. I wonder if the two old Lykes Seabee ships laid up in the Beaumont fleet will see any use in this effort, it is pretty much what they are hanging around for. I know the Cape Mohican was overhauled as recently as 2016.
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Arenāt the MPF ships equipped to handle this? I thought they have all those barges and shit onboard for this specific operation.
You mean they could be used like this?:
150704-A-ZR018-011 ANMYEON BEACH, Republic of Korea (July 4, 2015) A roll-on roll-off discharge facility is attached to the Military Sealift command roll-on/roll-off ship USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo (T-AK 3008) off the shore of Anmyeon Beach, Republic of Korea, during Combined Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore 2015. The exercise trains U.S. and Republic of Korea service members to accomplish vital logistical measures in a strategic area while strengthening communication and cooperation in the U.S.-ROK Alliance. (U.S. Army photo by: Maricris C. McLane/Released)
Source: https://www.msc.usff.navy.mil/Press-Room/Photo-Gallery/igphoto/2002480283/
But it looks much more impressive (and expensive) to do what is show in OP.
Remember, it is an election year in the US.
PS> A few landing ship (civilian or military) could carry the 500 tonnes of aid that is waiting in Cyprus directly to the beaches in Gaza without any of all this.
Except merchant ships moored directly at each Mulberry. What I see here is going to be extremely ineffective and painfully slow. Once our Navy had landing ships which could discharge vehicles right onto the beach but apparently they have given up on having that ability?
I should also point out that using the Mulberries was fraught with difficulty and on the 19th of June, a storm wrecked the US operated pier at Omaha Beach and it never was put back into use.
Israel has the ability to secure the beach with Israeli boots on the ground against Hamas ground attacks or civilian riots. What about Hamas rocket attacks?
Perhaps, the landing beach facility should be in the remotest location in Northern Gaza which has been more thoroughly depopulated and brought under better Israeli control.
No doubt Israel has capable shoreside engineers that could facilitate landing the dock and shoreside moorings, staging areas, and roads for the dock.
It sounds like the pier would essentially be a chain of flexi-floats. That seems feasible if the weather permits it in this totally exposed location.
Iām sure there must be many large barges located in the Med that could be purchased or chartered for use as floating docks.
I cannot understand why it should take several months to set this floating dock up.
It will be interesting to see how the aid ship that has already left Cyprus gets its aid ashore. They must think they have a feasible plan.
It maybe as simple as pushing a barge onto the beach and building an offloading ramp out of sand.
From own experience it is possible to come up with a lot easier and cheaper ways of creating a landing point for LCT or even RoRos.
In KalTim, Indonesia we needed a facility to receive construction material from ships at anchor outside the river bar and carried to a point closer to the construction site.
The solution; a barge was beached bow first along the riverside and the bow tanks filled with water.
A bulldozer was used to make a temp road and pushed sand against the bow of the barge to land the barge ramp on.
Transport barges were moored up against the stern of the landing barge and a mobile crane used to handle the cargo to trucks.
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I believe they are to an extent, as are the Red Cloud Class if there is a ESD present. I know the John Glenn and Montford Point already have deck installations in place for LCACs and ramp access from other vessels so it can serve as a floating dock facility, maybe theyāll get the nod to deploy as well.
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In true mariner fashion we are forgetting that landing the supplies is only one-third of the equation. From the beach the goods will need to moved inland by truck. These convoys of trucks will need to be guarded from raiders, or they will be seized/destroyed by terrorists/gangs (who will blame Israel for the deed).
At the same time, truck bombs can be used to blow up both the beach-end and inland distribution centers. Again, Israel would be blamed for doing it, further muddying Israelās reputation, which has been Hamasās goal all along.
Once the trucks reach population centers the goods will need to be redistributed by a whole other network of trucks/animals/porters, all of which requires security. The gang problem here is as acute as the terrorist problem.
Not saying it shouldnāt be done. But lots of security is going to be needed far from the beach.
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Didnāt I see an article saying Israel will provide the security?
MPS 2 has a couple ships that carry the INLS to put together the RRDF or JLOTS setup. The only issue is they are MPF not APS. They would also have to transit the BAMā¦ā¦
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MPS 3 is much further away in Korea and Saipan.
MPS 1 was broken up back in 2012 so there is no longer a prepo squadron in the Med.
The Bob Hope class LMSR that Sal mentioned will get the INLS loaded at some point but it wont be quick. The MPF ships that carry the INLS barges have modified deck fittings and supports to load and secure the barges. You can typically load your deck in 48 hours so long as the cranes are operating as they should. The largest piece is the warping tug thats 110 tons if I recall. The ramp, beach and powered modules are all lighter. Dont kid yourself into thinking that since they just left the yard everything is operating perfectly. MacGreggor has been an enormous PITA the last couple years with poor tech service and poor parts support. Luckily, money wont be an option and Macgreggor has an office in Norfolk.
By all means ask questions.
Correct, but Lummus, Bobo, and Williams(?) are stateside right now arenāt they? Thereās at least 3 stateside that wouldnāt have to transit the BAM or the canal to get there.
I canāt speak to the operational readiness of those ships, but this was the idea when the Marines took those ships back to the states.
Iāve heard talk of those hulls are going to Marad but they are tired old hulls with ancient cranes.
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Seems like par for the course with most of the MARAD ROS fleet, nothing new for them!
Sal Mercogliano has good video on the logistics .
Good video, at 30 minutes a bit on the long side but Sal is well informed on the topic. No politics, mostly on the technical side. The critical subject of security is mentioned but not discussed at length.
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we did this on the north slope when i worked for Crowley. beach the barge on a gravel mat then built a berm up to the head log, then rolled off the modules that became the power system, and accommodations for the trans Alaskan pipeline.
the exposure for our troops and ships will be rockets and water propelled drones like the Ukraineās have
The crews now headed to Gaza, Hinson said, will be well prepared by the Australia exercise, in which the sea state of wind, waves and swells were higher than crews will likely find in the Mediterranean.
āIf you have a sea state thatās a little higher, then that will affect your throughput ā your throughput could go down and then there is a certain time if thereās storms or whatever, where you may actually have to stop operations until the sea state goes back down,ā he said.
Throughput is reduced in sea state 3 and higher.