US Navy Leases MV Transshelf for Sea Base

StrategyPage has an article up regarding the US Navy lease of MV Transshelf, a dockwise open dock vessel the Navy intends to use to develop the Mobile Landing Platform for the MPF(F), otherwise known as the Sea Base.

I have been critical of the Sea Base in the past, mostly because I do not see the aviation aspect of the Sea Base to be very well thought out or defined, and see big problems converting LHD and LHA(R) ships to run MEF aviation while crewed with civilian crews. However, I have also praised the Sea Base concept for being innovative, and I think the use of a Mobile Landing Platform is a really creative idea for transferring equipment at sea while the Navy continues to develop high stability cranes on mobile platforms able to conduct its business in high sea states.

The first time the Navy used one of these type of vessels was when the Navy leased the MV Blue Marlin to bring the USS Stark (FFG 31) after it was hit by 2 anti-ship missiles in 1987. That lease has led to the use of open dock vessels for a number of transports since, from the USS Cole (DDG 67) in 1990 to the transportation of minesweepers to and from the Gulf over the last 17 years.

The open dock platform brings a number of capabilities to the US Navy beyond transportation of smaller craft, although the transport of ship to shore connectors is its primary purpose within the Sea Base concept. It has been speculated these ships will be important in the next conflict regardless of the utilization of the sea base though, their ability to recover damage vessels from the combat zone could be important in recovering warships that might otherwise be sunk during tow due to battle damage.