Dominant Logistics
Towed Support Platforms
There exists within the Navy a need for a multipurpose system that is capable of filling some of the gaps in our current capabilities. Of particular concern is our lack of capability to move materials from ships to shore without the use of major port facilities. Other proposed systems will help in alleviating this problem, like the HEMTT Duck and amphibious TSV, but we still need an effective method of getting these vehicles on and off ships that in most cases will not be amphibious-capable vessels. But we also have other needs that must be filled relating to gaps in our littoral capabilities. We have no effective means for deploying and supporting patrol boats in quantity.
A Towed Support Platform
To begin to address these needs, we should develop a platform-type vessel that can be towed by larger ships to the regions where they are required. This vessel would have power systems, but for long-range movements, this vessel would be towed. The platform would be divided into four sections. The starboard side would include the crew and engine compartments as well as support systems for littoral vessels. The center section of the vessel would feature adjustable height electric motor propulsion pods. When towed, the pods would be retracted and then once in theater, the pods would be lowered and the platform would manuever itself. Flanking each side of the center section is an operating area that will vary based upon the configuration of the platform.
The platform rides on four pontoons to keep the platform as high in the water as is possible to reduce drag while being towed. The pontoons can be used to hold fuel when needed and the situation is appropriate. Gates in the front and rear of the vessel can be lowered to either form a ramp into the water or to hook up with another TSP. There will also be bracing in the center section of the front and the rear to allow for the platform to be towed or even to link multiple platforms together for towing.
The Floating Deck
The floating deck model of the TSP features operating areas astride the center section that form a strong, flat deck when the engine pods are lowered. This may be used as a loading/unloading area for amphibious operations or it could even be used as a pier section. The front and rear gates allow for the options of linking multiple platforms or to form the access ramps to use the deck.
With this system, ships that are normally incapable of amphibious operations would be able to perform these missions. The ship ramps that normally lower to a pier would simply lower to a floating deck that then provides the necessary access to the water. If we're using amphibious vehicles, they can simply drive off the ramp from the deck. We could also drive LCACs up onto the deck for loading of non-amphibious materials and vehicles.
The deck could also serve as a transport means for non-amphibious vessels to transport LCACs. Ideally, the deck version of the TSP should be able to carry up to four LCACs in a transportation role, two on each side of the center section. This also leaves sufficient room so that LCACs can move on and off one side of the deck while vehicles and materials come off the ship on the other side for loading on the LCACs.
We can also link multiple decks together to form temporary bridges or piers. Using numerous TSPs, we simply interlock the gates and we can form a pier as long as we wish. It would need to be anchored on many cases but since the TSPs are powered, this wouldn't require tugs to move everything into place - you just drive it in and anchor it up. And since the TSPs are electrically driven, once your pier is assembled it can also serve as a power generation system as well as a fuel storage system.
The Boat Transport
One of the more challenging tasks for the U.S. Navy is to make effective use of vessels that cannot transit the oceans on their own. To date, there has simply been no easy means by which to provide and support quantities of smaller vessels in support of operations abroad. This is where the boat transport model of the TSP comes into play.
Instead of decks alongside the center section of the TSP, the boat transport model has dry dock facilities for lifting boats out of the water for maintenance or for transport. You load the boats on the TSP for transport to the theater of operations, tow the TSP with a larger vessel, then the TSP remains with the larger vessel providing a location for the smaller boats to dock in between missions. The TSP can provide storage for fuel and spares as well. This makes littoral operations abroad much more feasible than they are today.