The USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) was deployed on October 1st, presumably to relieve the USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) which deployed back on April 15th. These deployments are interesting because they are so frequent, and yet so rarely discussed in detail. Anyone paying attention knows what is going on, and it is noteworthy the amount of money being spent for tech on these deployments. Local media gives us the summery.
The 400 sailors will head to the Persian Gulf for seven months. The amphibious transport ship can launch helicopters from the flight deck, launch special forces from its belly, and act as a floating hospital, like it did during the Beirut evacuations last year.
All those capabilities have the sailors deploying more than usual.
"That's just the reality in the Navy, unfortunately," said Anne Morgan, whose husband is the Command Master Chief on board Whidbey Island.
"That's just the world we live in now."
There are only 12 other ships like Whidbey Island in the fleet. As more evidence they are in high demand, USS Fort McHenry, which was parked one pier over, heads out on deployment soon as well.
"Amphibious ships are in great demand right now," said Cmdr. Junge. "There are some missions we do in support of the war on terror that other ships aren't quite as well suited to. We're actually now actively looking for Al Qaeda, actively working anti-piracy operations, and those are important things for better security for the folks back home."
There are two types of ships today taking the war to the enemy, amphibious ships and submarines. The flexibility of LSDs and LPDs is unmatched in the fleet today, but I would agree they leave a bit to be desired (although unlike most ships, they have the size and space to be improved).
People are quick to complain about the LPD-17 program, particularly the cost. I've done it, but I also say build more and lots of them, and btw arm them up with ESSM in VLS already. I'll get into why later, but as we sit here in October of 2007, it is lost on most folks the last US Navy ship to engage in live fire surface action was a dock landing ship, while the last ship to engage in a mine clearance mission was an AEGIS destroyer.
Sounds silly right? Not to me, the Navy is settling in for business over the long haul in my opinion, as these two events fit very well with the way I see the future unfolding. These two realities might not sit well with an idealist, but we don't live in an ideal world.
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