How is the evolution of landing craft and boats
During the Second World War, amphibious operations became very common. In the summer of 1943, the Allies landed in Sicily, a year later – in Normandy. The scale of these operations was very large, they were crowned with complete success. As for the war in the Pacific, it consisted of continuous amphibious operations.
FROM KOREA TO THE FALKLANDS
As a result, the concept of specialized amphibious ships was born in the United States, capable of landing people and equipment directly on shore, without reloading into boats under enemy fire. Infantry and tank landing ships and boats appeared, which landed equipment and people on the shore through the opening bow ramps.
In September 1950, the Incheon amphibious operation conducted by the US Navy turned the tide of the Korean War. However, the Wonsan operation, launched by the Americans in October of the same year, has already, in fact, failed.
In the autumn of 1956, Great Britain and France conducted a successful amphibious landing in the Egyptian Port Said ("The Suez Canal as an apple of discord ", see "HBO" from 06.11.20). Finally, in 1982, the British, with the help of a naval landing, knocked out a contingent of the Argentine Armed Forces from the Falkland Islands ("The War for the Islands ", "HBO" from 04/19/19).
There were no more major amphibious landings after 1945 (only tactical ones), but landing ships were actively improved. The concept of landing troops directly on shore from aboard a tank landing ship (TDK; in the USSR/Russia – a large landing ship, BDK) very quickly gave way to the concept of over-the-horizon landing, in which landing ships do not approach too close to the shore. And they are not thereby exposed to blows, at least by enemy artillery.
AMERICAN NOVELTIES
In the 1950s, new classes of amphibious ships appeared in the US Navy. Landing transports-docks (DTD) carried landing boats on board, ensuring the landing of troops without the ship's direct approach to the shore. Five Anchorage-type and eight Thomaston-type DTDs were built. To date, one Anchorage has been sold to Taiwan, two Thomaston have been received by Brazil, the rest of the DTDs have been disposed of or sunk as targets. The amphibious helicopter carriers also did not approach the shore, carrying out the landing with the help of helicopters. Seven Iwo Jima-class ships belonged to this class, all of them were scrapped or sunk in the early 2000s. The synthesis of these two classes became amphibious helicopter ships-docks (DVKD), which carry out remote landing both with the help of boats and with the help of helicopters. Three Rayleigh-type and 12 Austin-type DTDs were built. To date, seven Austins remain in reserve, one has been acquired by India, the rest of the DVKDs have been disposed of or sunk as targets. The development of the DVKD became universal landing ships (UDC), which, in addition to boats and helicopters, could also carry fighter-bombers with vertical take-off and landing AV-8 "Harrier", carrying out direct air support of the landing. In the first half of the 1970s, five Tarawa-type UDC were built, each of which could carry up to 17 boats, up to 45 helicopters and up to six Harriers. To date, two Taravas remain in reserve, the lead ship has been turned into a museum.
In the 1980s, eight Whidbey Island-type DTDs and four Harpers Ferry-type amphibious vehicles similar in design were built. Since 2000, the construction of the "San Antonio" type DVKD has been underway (11 ships out of 13 planned have already been commissioned).
From 1985 to 2009, eight Wasp-type UDC were built (one of them was lost in a fire in 2020), after which construction of the America-type UDC began. It is planned to build 11 of them, while two ships have been commissioned. They no longer carry landing boats on board, while vertical take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL) of the 5th generation F-35B are added to the Harriers. In fact, the ships of the type "America" in their size, armament and purpose are aircraft carriers, not UDC.
EUROPEAN FOLLOWERS
The article " Amphibious problem of the Russian Navy " ("HVO" dated 03/22/19) was devoted to the development of Amphibious forces of the USSR and Russia Navies. The Amphibious Forces of the People's Liberation Army Navy of China (PLA) were mentioned in the article " Celestial Armada " ("HVO" from 01.10.21). Now we are talking about the rest.
In the UK in the 1960s, a series of seven tDCS - "knights of the Round Table" was built, of which one was sunk off the Falklands, one still serves as a training ship, the rest were disposed of.
Later, a similar ship Tobruk was built for the Australian Navy, and in the 1970s, eight small Balikpapan-type tDCS were built there according to their own design (they could carry one or two tanks or up to 15 armored personnel carriers), which were later transferred to the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
Since the 1970s, small Batral-type tDCS have been built in France: five for the French Navy itself (now all decommissioned), eight for export (for Chile, Morocco, Gabon, Ivory Coast (now Ivory Coast).
Already in the 1960s, both leading European countries built their first two DTDs: the British type "Firless" and the French type "Hurricane" (by now all these ships have been disposed of).
Also, 10 tanks could carry Japanese tDCS of the Atsumi and Miura types, three such ships were built in the 1970s for the Japanese Navy. In the same years, four Hengam-type tDCS were built for the Iranian Navy in this country, and in the 1980s – five small Ormuz-type tDCS.
The construction of the TDK continued in some countries in the 1990s and even in the XXI century. So, in Greece, five Jason-type tDCS were built (capable of carrying up to 22 tanks). In India, two Magar-type tDCS and three advanced Shardul types (up to 15 tanks) were built. The Armed Forces of the Republic of Korea received four tDCS of the Go Jung Bon type (up to 12 tanks), and then four types of Jeong Wan Bon, which are currently the most modern tDCS in the world.
Adjacent to the TDK are the Absalon-type assault ships of the Danish Navy, which have no direct analogues in the world (two units were built in the early 2000s), which are a synthesis of a frigate and a landing ship. In general, however, the TDK class is gradually ending its existence, increasingly giving way to DTD, DVKD and UDC.
In the 21st century, the British Navy received the amphibious helicopter carrier Ocean, two Albion-type DVKDs and four Bay-type DTDs, but the latter are considered amphibious transports. Later, the Ocean was sold to Brazil, and one of the Beys was sold to Australia.
In the 1980s, the French Navy received two Fudr-type DVKDs (later sold to Chile and Brazil), which could carry eight landing boats and four helicopters. In the 21st century, the French navy received three Mistral-type UDC (each with four landing boats, up to 60 pieces of equipment, including 13 tanks, up to 35 helicopters). Two more such ships were built for Russia, but after the introduction of sanctions against it, they were resold to Egypt. One of the French Mistrals in 2011 participated in the fighting against Libya as a carrier of Tiger helicopters.
The Italian Navy at the end of the 1980s received three DVKD type "San Giorgio" (carry six landing boats, up to 18 helicopters). In the XXI century, in Italy, a similar project was built for Algeria.
The Dutch Navy did not have amphibious ships during the Cold War, but in the 1990s the first Rotterdam DVKD was built in this country (capable of carrying 32 tanks or 90 armored personnel carriers, four landing boats, up to six helicopters), and then, according to a slightly modified project, the Johan de Witt DVKD.
According to a similar project, two Galicia-type DVKDs were built in Spain in the 1990s (capable of carrying up to 33 tanks or 130 armored personnel carriers). Then the Spanish fleet received the Juan Carlos UDC, capable of carrying four landing boats, up to 50 tanks, up to 25 VTOL aircraft and helicopters (now it is the only carrier of Harriers in the Spanish Navy).
According to an almost similar project, two Canberra-type UDC were built in Spain for the Australian Navy, and in Turkey, the Anadolu UDC was built under a Spanish license. In Holland, for New Zealand at the beginning of the XXI century, the DVKD "Canterbury" was built (sometimes classified as an amphibious transport).
ASIAN APPROACHES
It can be noted that modern European landing ships, unlike American ones, are built with significant use of civilian technologies and are, in fact, paramilitary ferries. They are planned to be used not in the classical military, but in police and peacekeeping operations, when no real resistance from the enemy's armed forces is expected. In this case, the landing ships do not act as "assault", but as floating bases (including recreation centers) of ground forces and as potential command posts of the entire peacekeeping operation.
In Asia, landing ships are built more according to the American "combat" concept. In Japan, in the 1990s, three DTDs (formally classified as tDCS) of the Osumi type were built, capable of carrying two LCAC boats. The South Korean DVKD Dokdo can carry up to 200 units of ground equipment and up to 15 helicopters (two such ships have been built).
Then, in the Republic of Korea, one was built for Myanmar and two relatively small Makassar–type DTDs were built for Indonesia (they carry two landing boats, up to 35 IFVs). After that, Indonesia built three more such DTDs for itself and two for the Philippines. Two more such DTDs were built in Peru under a South Korean license. In Singapore, in the late 1990s, six Endurance-type DTDs were built (carrying two landing boats, up to 18 tanks).
Landing boats are mainly designed to transport troops from the side of the DTD, DVKD and UDC to the shore, their designs have changed little since the Second World War. The exceptions are the American LCAC hovercraft (has a maximum speed of up to 70 knots, a cruising range of up to 300 miles, is capable of carrying up to 75 tons of cargo) and the French catamaran-type landing boat L-cat (for Mistral-type UDC, displacement 300 tons, speed 30 knots, carries up to 100 tons of various cargo).
LANDING BOATS
At the same time, however, there are landing boats that operate independently of large ships and are completely independent units. Several hundred similar boats have the Finnish and Swedish Navies. Both of these fleets first acquired Type G boats . Then landing boats of the types "Uisco", "Jurmo" and "Yehu" were built in Finland, in Sweden – SV90 (also built for the Norwegian Navy), which can also be used as patrol and rescue boats.
Russian Raptor-type boats, Chinese Project 928 and Ukrainian Centaur-type boats are being built on the model of the SV90. The DPRK Navy has up to 200 amphibious boats of the Nampo type and up to 150 amphibious hovercraft of the Konban type.
In the USA, in addition to LCAC boats, high-speed landing craft of the catamaran type JHSV (Joint High Speed Vessel) are used. They are built according to the SWATH scheme (small waterplane area twin-hull, catamaran with a small waterline area), their maximum speed is 35-40 knots, carry up to 15 tanks or up to 250 units of automotive equipment.
This implies the possibility of landing people and equipment on an unequipped coast, as from a conventional landing ship. It is believed that a group of 10-12 such ships is capable of transferring a brigade of ground troops or marines to 900 km in 10 hours.
Although classic amphibious operations have not been carried out by anyone for a very long time, amphibious ships are developing even more actively than "classic" warships. This is due to the fact that the landing ships fit well into the wars characteristic of the West with a deliberately weaker enemy.
At the same time, they can potentially be used in "normal" wars. Asian countries, whose military power is growing very rapidly, are guided by the latter.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
