Australian Landing Craft

GTX

GTX

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Albanese government accelerates build of 18 Medium Landing Craft

Albanese government accelerates build of 18 Medium Landing Craft.
www.armyrecognition.com www.armyrecognition.com

Albanese_government_accelerates_build_of_18_Medium_Landing_Craft-efcd57a0.webp
 
www.defenceconnect.com.au

Government announces next-gen Army Landing Craft Heavy

Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Pat Conroy has announced the selection of the preferred option for the Australian Defence Force’s Landing Craft Heavy under a program that will bolster national defence by establishing a new littoral fleet.
www.defenceconnect.com.au www.defenceconnect.com.au

Defence%20Connect%2Fland8710-2-LC-H-concept-2-dc_wtaplg
 
Useful for ? I cannot really see a role for such vessels in a modern context ? (possible use for disaster relief or aid work tho ?)
 
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TsrJoe said:
Useful for ? I cannot really see a role for such vessels in a modern context ? (possible use for disaster relief or aid work tho ?)
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For Australia, it's a more practical way of moving heavy equipment around the country in some ways.
 
TsrJoe said:
Useful for ? I cannot really see a role for such vessels in a modern context ? (possible use for disaster relief or aid work tho ?)
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These are for Australia (a land surrounded by the ocean, with an extremely long coastline and thousands of islands in its general area - some of which have seen armed conflict in recent decades, and which might soon again (if China keeps increasing its shoving other nations around, if smaller nations in the Southwest Pacific get in arguments etc).

These are not for Austria (or any European nation at all).
 
GTX said:
www.defenceconnect.com.au

Government announces next-gen Army Landing Craft Heavy

Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Pat Conroy has announced the selection of the preferred option for the Australian Defence Force’s Landing Craft Heavy under a program that will bolster national defence by establishing a new littoral fleet.
www.defenceconnect.com.au www.defenceconnect.com.au

Defence%20Connect%2Fland8710-2-LC-H-concept-2-dc_wtaplg
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Surprised that has bow doors and not a ramp/bridge over the bow like the US big LSTs...

Means a wider and leaky bow, so a slower craft.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Surprised that has bow doors and not a ramp/bridge over the bow like the US big LSTs...

Means a wider and leaky bow, so a slower craft.
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It's a ~15 knot design replacing a 10-knot one. It's not designed to support a high-speed amphibious taskforce like the Newports.

The ramp on the Newports was a royal pain in the a** and has never been adopted by anyone since. BMT's Caiman 500 offering for this requirement had a solid visor that hinges up but it was still a 15-knot design.

I am slightly surprised they didn't go for the much-hyped Seatrader Stern Landing Vessel. Perhaps it isn't living up to the hype?
 
TomS said:
I am slightly surprised they didn't go for the much-hyped Seatrader Stern Landing Vessel. Perhaps it isn't living up to the hype?
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Imagining how the whole operation turns from normal to stern for landing would be problematic enough, if not suicidal
 
SK2 said:
Imagining how the whole operation turns from normal to stern for landing would be problematic enough, if not suicidal
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It's not an assault landing vessel, it's basically for admin/unopposed landings. This is basically true for all modern landing craft larger than an LCM.
 
If I was going to design a landing ship, I'd start with the rough hull of one of the Incat high speed ferries, but those need a hell of a lot of silencing applied before it'd be a safe ship to work on 24/7.

My sub was tracking one at IIRC ~30km, it drowned out a closer contact. Said closer contact was at ~15km. Another time, we were on the surface, within sight of shore, HSV-1 goes between us and shore and I had to yell for the officer of the deck to hear me. He was maybe 6ft away from me and couldn't hear me over the thunder of the Incat's engines...
 
Scott Kenny said:
If I was going to design a landing ship, I'd start with the rough hull of one of the Incat high speed ferries, but those need a hell of a lot of silencing applied before it'd be a safe ship to work on 24/7.

My sub was tracking one at IIRC ~30km, it drowned out a closer contact. Said closer contact was at ~15km. Another time, we were on the surface, within sight of shore, HSV-1 goes between us and shore and I had to yell for the officer of the deck to hear me. He was maybe 6ft away from me and couldn't hear me over the thunder of the Incat's engines...
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Those high-speed designs can't beach for sh*t. They are fine pier-to-pier or with some sort of causeway in place, but over the beach is not their forte.

There are all sorts of attempts to bridge that gap (BMT's Caiman 90 fast landing craft, for example) but it a really hard to reconcile the need for high speed with the requirement to shove the hull onto a beach periodically.
 
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Hovercrafts...however they are extremely noisy and could be less seaworthy than LCUs
 

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