The usual transfer of six amphibious ships of the Russian Navy from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea scared the West and forced the United States to change its plans in equipping the fleet. Moscow has demonstrated how to cause panic with the help of not very young and formidable vessels. Putin's gambit also showed how important landing ships are, writes Forbes.
In January, the Russian Navy sent six landing ships of the Baltic Fleet on a cruise around Europe. As soon as Sweden saw them, it began to transfer its troops, Finland became worried about the demilitarized Aland Islands, and NATO countries allocated unusually powerful forces to accompany the Russian detachment. In addition to the hype in Europe, the maneuvers of the Baltic Fleet caused a reaction overseas - the US Marine Corps received a reason to remind about the need to return to service the landing ships of the LST "old school".
The disproportionate response of the West is a tacit recognition that even small and insignificant in the military sense landing ships with a creative approach can create a lot of problems in the coastal waters of developed countries. And this, in turn, will have an impact in Washington, where the fate of the LAW, a light landing ship to replace the LST, is being decided.
A return to the classic LST design is highly justified. Once these modest ships were an important part of the US Navy. Only during the Second World War, more than a thousand of these simple and convenient vessels were built, in addition to their direct purpose, they were used as floating hospitals, warehouses and rescue bases, anti-mine, repair ships and so on. Like the Soviet vessels of Project 775 that have made a noise now, the LST has a length of about 105 meters and a displacement of about four thousand tons.
Alexey Valagin
