Notes to the New Administration Week
By Major Christopher “Pink Sheets” Lowe, USMC
The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy find themselves having to reevaluate and evolve their relationship to execute the concepts of Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE) and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO). While not exactly new concepts, LOCE and EABO have not been put into practice by the Marine Corps and Navy in major operations since the Pacific campaign of World War II. There has been a major focus on amphibious lift inside the weapons engagement zone (WEZ) of the adversary, but this leaves a gap in the intermediate zone in which Marines and equipment must be transported from larger hubs in the United States or allied countries to points in which they transition into the WEZ. To increase the capability of the naval expeditionary force to meet the demands across the global maritime commons and in non-permissive maritime environments, the Navy should acquire at least 30 Lewis B Puller (ESB-3)-class Expeditionary Mobile Base ships.
The mission sets of LOCE/EABO require distributed forces over long distances and the need to minimize the effects of ship losses. The Navy needs to acquire at least 30 ESB ships in order to accomplish this. The ESB class can provide lift capacity for 250 Marines and four CH-53/MV-22 aircraft at a cost of $135 million per ship. For the $2 billion cost of a San Antonio (LPD-17) class ship that can lift 699 Marines, two CH-53/MV-22 aircraft, and provides a surface connector capability the Navy could field approximately 15 ESB-class ships, offering a lift capacity of 3,750 Marines and 60 MV-22/CH-53 aircraft. Having a plethora of ESB ships allows the Navy to minimize the degradation of lift capacity due to maintenance or combat loss. It also gives the MEU/ARG command team added flexibility in their force composition and their ability to distribute forces across the area of operations necessary to execute LOCE and EABOs.
While not as stealthy or as small as the developing McClung (LSM-1) class, a deep bench of ESB ships would enable the amphibious lift of Marines and equipment to the WEZ and intermediate transition points, or close enough to the WEZ to utilize the MV-22 or CH-53K to complete the journey while minimizing risk to the ESB. Having a deeper inventory of affordable transport ships will be fundamental toward enabling Navy and Marine warfighting concepts inside the WEZ of a rival great power.
Major Christopher “Pink Sheets” Lowe is a Maritime Space Officer (1706) serving as the Information Warfare Operations Officer at the I Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group Information Coordination Center, Camp Pendleton, CA. He has served as a Low Altitude Air Defense Officer (7204) with the Tactical Air Commander Center 38, 2d Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion, and deployed on the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. He also previously served in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer on USS Cowpens (CG-63) and USS Antietam (CG-54).
The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Marine Corps and the Department of Defense.
Featured Image: SAN DIEGO (Feb. 9, 2024) The expeditionary sea base Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) John L. Canley (ESB 6) enters San Diego Harbor. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mark D. Faram)
While I’d be reluctant to send an ESB into harm’s way, I agree they have an important role to play supporting EABO. An ESB is an ideal mobile staging point since it’s big enough to efficiently
accept and store bulk cargo from large resupply ships before distributing it to smaller vessels better suited to operating inside the WEZ. I’ve long considered ESBs ideal floating bases for LMACC, and I’d expect them to be similarly useful for supporting LSMs and USVs.
Indeed. The ESBs can bring a lot a capability at a relatively low cost. I would also be hesitant to send them into the WEZ without proper support, but in a conflict where high casualties are expected it becomes a trade off of high value assets that could cripple an operation or lower value assets that are more affordable to be lost.