ARTICLE: Landing Ships Outmaneuver Terrorists, By Harold C. Hutchison, Strategy Page, June 22, 2007
An obvious repurposing from Leviathan to SysAdmin. Despite the much-cited observation from the Marines that some fantastic percent of the world's population is accessible by assault from the sea, we're simply past the point in history where it makes sense to maintain a large-scale capacity to mount opposed amphibious assaults--unless they are mutli-purposable. Inchon was probably the last great hurrah for that sort of warfare (although North Korea remains plausible--reflecting its trapped-in-history status), so we watch Marine amphibs redirected toward pure SysAdmin work as medical responders.
Thanks to Brad Lena for sending this.
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Comments (4)
Nonetheless, amphibious doctrine is alive and well. Recall such SysAdmin-esque interventions as Restore Hope began as deliberate amphibious assault and ended as a deliberate amphibious withdrawal.
Posted by Smitten Eagle | June 24, 2007 2:07 PM
Hmmm...in the last 25 years, Lebanon, San Carlos Water, Grenada, various rough and tumbles in the Gulf, Somalia, Haiti, Iraq 2, Liberia '04. No use for that capability!
It's my belief that the US should abolish its army and hugely increase the Marines, but then, I'm being deliberately provocative.
Posted by Alex | June 25, 2007 5:06 AM
It is usually a bad idea to decide you don't need some capability. Your enemies find a way to exploit the gap in your capabilities. It is tough to day the USA, an oceanic power, will not find itself in a situation where it needs to shoot its way ashore some place. We have done so many, many times over the course of our history.
Patton said he wished he'd had pack artillery and horses in Tunisia. Seemingly obsolete practices and equipment keep finding a use.
Now, being able to fight the tank battle against the Reds in the Fulda Gap, maybe we don't want to preserve that capability -- on a cost-benefit basis, since that problem has solved itself almost certainly forever. But seizing a lodgement from the sea, that is a capacity that may never become obsolete.
Posted by Lexington Green | June 25, 2007 9:29 AM
Alex,
You beat a straw man. Show me where I say get rid of amphibs.
But you miss the real point: "opposed" landings are no more. None of your examples featured any real opposition, serious beach defenses, lotsa Marines dead in the sand, anything approaching "Saving Private Ryan."
Inchon was the last of that. With maneuver warfare you simply jump beyond that with ease, like landing Marines 400 miles inland for OEF.
Posted by Tom Barnett | June 25, 2007 7:46 PM