Compass Points - LSM Questions
Doubts about the Landing Ship Medium
Compass Points - LSM Questions
Doubts about the Landing Ship Medium
June 12, 2024
.
Some people thought the small, slow, USS Pueblo was a critical asset in the Pacific. It turned out to be a dangerous and deadly mistake. China today is on the move in the Pacific. While carefully staying short of all-out war, China is threatening and intimidating countries throughout the Pacific. The Philippines is just one example. Every week, just off the Philippine coast, the Philippines go nose to nose with China.
The Marine Corps claims that it can help deter China by stationing small units of Marines on Pacific islands. Those island Marines would be serviced by a fleet of small ships, the LSM - Medium Landing Ship. Can the LSM actually help deter China? Is the small, slow LSM a critical asset in the Pacific or, like the USS Pueblo, is it a dangerous and deadly mistake?
Keith T. Holcomb and Carl O. Schuster have written a revealing article about the LSM, "What the USS Pueblo Incident Can Teach Marines about the LSM." Years ago, the USS Pueblo was captured and the crew killed or taken prisoner because the ship was too small, slow and lightly armed. What about the LSM?
.
============
.
Bottom Line: The PRC possesses the capabilities to find, track, neutralize, seize, and/or destroy the envisaged LSM whenever they choose. The assertion that LSMs will be able to operate throughout the theater without Chinese knowledge of their movements is wishful thinking.
. . . these vulnerabilities make the LSM “easy game’ for any state or non-state actor willing to venture into the Indo-Pacific to create an incident during the LSM’s 20-year life cycle. Recently, the Russian and PRC ships have begun operating together. North Korea is always a wild card, and who can accurately forecast Iranian-sponsored activities in its increasingly volatile nearby sea space?
. . . The LSM as envisaged is a disastrous accident/incident waiting to happen. Rather than being the means by which the Marine Corps may deter future conflict, it is just as likely to precipitate the war we don’t want.
-- Real Clear Defense
.
============
.
With a transit speed of only 14 knots, the LSM is small, slow, lightly armed, and incapable of operating in much above calm seas. By contrast, the similarly sized, Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) has a speed of 35 knots, even in sea state 3.
The Congressional Research Service report on the LSM raises even more questions, not only about the LSM, but about the whole idea of Force Design.
.
============
.
Another potential oversight issue for Congress concerns the merits of Force Design and the EABO operational concept that the LSM is intended to help implement. Debate on the merits of Force Design and the EABO concept has been vigorous and concerns issues such as:
-- whether Force Design and the EABO concept are focused too exclusively on potential conflict scenarios with China at the expense of other kinds of potential Marine Corps missions;
-- the ability of Marine forces to gain access to the islands from which they would operate;
-- the ability to resupply Marine forces that are operating on the islands;
-- the survivability of Marine forces on the islands and in surrounding waters;
-- how much of a contribution the envisioned operations by Marine forces would make in contributing to overall U.S. sea-denial operations; and
-- potential alternative ways of using the funding and personnel that would be needed to implement EABO.
CRS Reports - LSM
.
============
.
The questions about the LSM are not just theoretical. Recently China's coastguard blocked, rammed, and used a water cannon to damage a Philippine ship and injure crew near Second Thomas Shoal. The confrontations are growing more numerous and more dangerous. China has also issued warnings to the US.
.
============
.
China says the United States must refrain from "stirring up trouble" or taking sides on the South China Sea issue, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, while on a visit to Manila, that a US - Philippine security deal included guarding against attacks on the Philippine coast guard.
-- Reuters
.
============
.
China today is on the move in the Pacific. Carefully staying short of all-out war, China is threatening and intimidating countries throughout the Pacific. The Philippines is just one example. Every week, just off the Philippine coast, the Philippines go nose to nose with China. How can the Marine Corps help deter China's aggression? Small units of Marines on islands? The small, slow, lightly armed LSM?
Imagine a confrontation between the Philippines and China at Second Thomas Shoal. If an LSM arrived suddenly, it would not be a deterrent. Its very weakness might inflame a tense situation and bring on even more dangerous and deadly aggression from China’s forces. On the other hand, how would the sudden arrival of an ARG/MEU change the confrontation? In such a confrontation, the ARG/MEU would be overwhelming force. China's vessels would have to withdraw or be destroyed.
The battle for the South China Sea is underway now. Want to do more to deter China in the South China Sea? The US needs fewer Marines on islands, fewer LSMs, and more ARG/MEUs. Every dollar and every shipyard day wasted on the LSM is a dollar and a day that should have been spent on more powerful and more useful amphibious ships. Compass Points salutes Keith Holcomb and Carl O. Schuster for their insightful article on the dangers of the LSM and thanks all those working to encourage the Marine Corps to focus less on the LSM and more on amphibious ships that can actually help deter China.
.
- - - - -
.
Real Clear Defense - 06/11/2024
What the USS Pueblo Incident Can Teach Marines about the LSM
By Keith T. Holcomb & Carl O. Schuster
.
- - - - -
.
CRS Reports - 04/24/2024
Navy Medium Landing Ship (LSM) (Previously Light Amphibious Warship [LAW]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46374
.
- - - - -
.
Reuters - 03/25/2024
China-Philippines relations: Major events in South China Sea dispute
By Reuters
.
- - - - -
.
Navy.mil
Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF)
Being reasonably familiar with the maritime conditions and terrain from Malaysia to Korea I would say the LSM is a baby goat in the lion’s den. The illusion that it will not draw attention is simply ludicrous. Its lack of speed makes it vulnerable to virtually every threat from weather to Jet skis, drones and every tub puttering about. The concept of small groups of Marines hiding on islands with short range missiles and lighting up radars is delusional enough. Pay a visit to every friendly military in the region and present the concepts. They will be too polite to laugh. The LSM will certainly evoke a laugh or two. Speed is essential with the ability to operate at high speed, in the dark, in shallow waters, in various sea states in heavily trafficked areas with land population density that defies the imagination. There must be 12-15 different ships built across the globe that could meet these needs and be available quickly. Yet, provided the perfect ship were available tomorrow morning, the base concept remains fatally flawed. I would suggest a full scale series of exercises in Hawaii, the Outerbanks off of North Carolina and the Florida keys. The kind of exercise that should have been conducted five years ago before the Corps divested itself of its combat power. Sold the car and made the payments on a car no one had ever seen or even designed.
We got the modern version of the WW2 Liberty ship except its 100X's more expensive. It can carry less, not as well armed and just as slow.