Navy's new amphib highlights the future of Marine aviation
ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP AMERICA, SOUTH PACIFIC — About 1,500 Marines and sailors have been busily testing the capabilities of the Navy’s newest amphibious assault ship during a two-month transit in a region that rarely sees a warship of this size.
Marines and sailors have been engaging important U.S. allies in this part of the world since leaving the Mississippi shipyard in July. Because the two aircraft elevators used to lift planes and helicopters from the hangars to the deck don’t fold, the America is too wide to sail through the Panama Canal. So they sailed around the entire South American continent toward the ship’s home port in California, stopping in Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Peru along the way.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Shane Duhe, the ship’s Marine cargo combat officer, oversaw the logistics operations aboard the America. The port stops were busy for Marines and sailors, he said, which is unusual for a ship making a transit from the shipyard.
“It’s not normal for a vessel like this to really do anything but go to its first home port and roll into a commissioning ceremony,” Duhe said. “This ship has been full-bore operational with a small special-purpose Marine air-ground task force aboard and that’s something that’s not the norm at all for a brand new ship rolling off the car lot, if you will.”
The Navy wanted to make good use of that two-month transit time, said Gen. John Kelly, the head of U.S. Southern Command. Navy Capt. Robert Hall Jr., the ship’s skipper, requested to have some Marines and a few of the Corps’ MV-22B Osprey aboard — an aircraft that had yet to see action in South America, Kelly said.
“As [Hall] pointed out, there’s a lot of experience in the United States Navy and Marine Corps with helicopters aboard ships, but not a lot of V-22 experience,” Kelly said.
The Corps assigned four Ospreys and about 250 Marines with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force South to the America. Aside from giving distinguished guests a taste of hybrid flight during transfers onto the ship, the Ospreys performed a number of operations, including flying equipment and Marines with SPMAGTF-South to local military bases for training events.
Having the chance to launch and recover Ospreys while the ship made its transit would help build up experience critical to the future of the Corps, Kelly said.
“[The training hours] would put them far out ahead of their workups once they get to San Diego and become a real ship, so to speak,” Kelly said.
Testing new designs
Since the America was built with future Marine aviation capabilities in mind, it doesn’t have a well-deck. It’s the first of the America-class amphibs built to replace the outdated Tarawa-class ship, and it’s optimized for Ospreys and the soon-to-be-fielded F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.
The second ship in the America class will be the same, Kelly said, but then the Navy plans to revert to well-decks, which allow for greater flexibility to load and unload using smaller boats. While removing the well-deck gives more space for aviation fuel, aircraft storage space, and room for helos and planes to move around, Kelly said it limits deployment of Marines.
If weather conditions aren’t optimal for aviation movement, for example, it could impact the ability to move Marines ashore.
“I think most Marines would say, ‘We like the versatility of the well deck,’ ” Kelly said.
Since Marines and sailors will deploy aboard the two ships built without well decks, Duhe said those in logistics are figuring out what must change. While they normally have dual operations for ship-to-shore transit that includes aviation or boats, he said the transit aboard the America has them thinking about how to move people and equipment differently.
“This is an air-centric platform that’s a mini-Marine Corps aircraft carrier, so that’s an exciting thing,” he said. “It makes everyone curious about the future employment of the America and how we’re going to bring our ship into amphibious ready groups and use it for different purposes.”
Not having a well deck has also made the sailors think differently, said Rear Adm. Fernandez “Frank” Ponds, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3. The America symbolizes the new era in the blue-green partnership that the commandant and chief of naval operations have written about, he said. Having four Osprey aboard naval ships provides the blue-green team with new options, he said.
“It’s a tremendous asset that gives a commander utility to do things that could’ve never been done before,” Ponds said. “This is a platform of the future — it was built with the future in mind. ... You get tremendous capability and flexibility.”
Col. Robert Rauenhorst, commanding officer of Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 22, oversaw the air-combat element of SPMAGTF-South throughout the transit.
Typically, Marines and sailors participating in military-to-military partnerships head to land-based training spots once the ship stops at port. But the Osprey allowed them to reach areas up to 300 miles offshore days before the ship stopped in a port, Rauenhorst said. That range, without need of a runway, gave the Marines and sailors a chance to participate in longer engagements with local troops, he said.
The transit also allowed the Osprey pilots opportunities to do something they haven’t done a lot of with so much time spent in Iraq and Afghanistan — land the aircraft aboard a ship. Working in a sea-based environment poses some different challenges for pilots to overcome, he said.
“We’ve really gotten away from the jungle environment or anything outside of the desert climate,” he said. “So for the pilots, they’ve really gotten to see that it’s going to be hot, humid, cloudy and overcast.”
Displaying partnership
When the planning for America’s transit began, Kelly said he immediately thought of Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Peru, four important partners to the U.S., where he hoped the ship could stop.
He made sure top U.S. military officials were aboard the ship when it made port stops in each country to highlight the commitment between the U.S. and local militaries.
And the countries were eager to participate, Kelly said. In Peru, the president even worked with that country’s congress to change a law that would’ve otherwise prohibited the America from making a port call. The previous law required a detailed manifest in order for a ship to stop — something the Navy won’t do. Now U.S. military ships just have to provide an approximate number of personnel aboard, he said.
Kelly flew out to the America from Lima with several Peruvian leaders Aug. 31. Among the guests were the ministers of defense and foreign affairs and top naval leadership.
In a place where earthquakes are a common occurrence, Peruvian leaders were interested in learning about medical facilities aboard the ship and equipment that can be employed during a time of crisis, like water-purification units.
Lt. Col. George Hasseltine, the commander of SPMAGTF-South, said bringing the Navy’s new ship around the continent sends a great message to those who live in this part of the world. But having Marines and sailors who could leave the ship via Osprey and fly out to conduct training with local partners emphasized the partnerships even further, he said.
Seaman Melissa Saavedra and Airman Ismara Guayamares, both currently aboard the America, were born in Peru. The engagements they’ve done throughout the transit show the people on the South American continent that the U.S. shares their common interests and cultures, they said.
“It shows that the United States is building ties with these other countries,” Saavedra said. “As a Peruvian-American, I see how we’re helping my country of origin, and I think others are seeing that in the America, that we’re building partnerships and becoming one.”
Beyond international partnership, Ponds said the transit highlighted the return to a strong blue-green partnership. Getting Marines back aboard ships after so many years fighting land wars is an important shift, he said.
“The blue-green team is solid,” he said. “We’re going back to the grassroots of that relationship we rely on so much.”