N95 Coffman Says Accelerate Big Deck Amphib Construction, Cut LSD Modernization Program

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/22/n95-coffman-says-accelerate-big-deck-amphib-construction-cut-lsd-modernization-program#more-40539

N95 Coffman Says Accelerate Big Deck Amphib Construction, Cut LSD Modernization Program

By: Megan Eckstein

January 22, 2019 5:51 PM • Updated: January 23, 2019 2:50 PM

ARLINGTON, Va. – In an attempt to address a “capacity problem” in the amphibious ship fleet, the head of expeditionary warfare wants to accelerate the construction of new amphibious assault ships and stop a lengthy upgrade program for the aging LSDs to return them to fleet operations.

The aging Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships (LSD-41/49) will be replaced on a one-for-one basis with the much more capable San Antonio-class Flight II LPDs, once those are built and start to deliver in the 2020s. Until then, though, Maj. Gen. David Coffman, the director of expeditionary warfare on the chief of naval operations’ staff (OPNAV N95), wants to stop trying to bring the LSDs up in capability and instead return them to the fleet to do what they’re good at: hauling a lot of stuff.

Congress pushed on the Navy a modernization plan for its cruisers and LSDs; for the amphibs, it called for taking three LSD hulls, putting them in reduced operational status until they could undergo major upgrades to the command, control, communications, computers, collaboration and intelligence (C5I), and then bringing them back to the fleet with an extended service life and greater warfighting capability. The combat credibility of the LSDs was in question, as amphibious ships now mostly operate in a distributed manner but the LSDs cannot ope ate as independently as the LPDs, which have a much more robust command and control system, medical facilities and other key capabilities.

With a better-than-anticipated replacement on the horizon with the LPD Flight II design, Coffman said last week at the Surface Navy Association’s annual national symposium that he wants to ditch the LSD modernization plan, use the ships now as trucks to carry people and gear, and focus resources on the LPD Flight II replacement program.

“I cannot find a path to robust disaggregated or contested environment capability enhancements for those ships. So we are not going to double down in that fashion,” Coffman said of the LSDs. “But we owe the captains and sailors readiness and safety and proficiency, and there is a lot there if you move back towards what we built them for: to exploit the well decks, massive square foot and cubic foot, massive cranes, et cetera et cetera. We recommend not to [do a service life extension program]. … We are already in an effort to truncate the layup [period] for [USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41)], which we set aside, akin to thecruiser layup. Get ‘em up, get ‘em safe, get ‘em proficient, get ‘em in the fleet to fill day-to-day requirements and see what they can do and contribute with all that capacity.”
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