The Navy wants more logistics ships for a future dispersed and larger fleet:
Another key area set for increases in the next FSA is support ships such as oilers, dry cargo ships, medical ships and other assets used to support sailors and Marines operating forward. If the fleet relies on more smaller ships operating independently instead of sailors massed on fewer larger ships operating in strike groups, the Navy will have to rethink how it sustains that force – and the answer almost certainly involves a requirement for more supply ships.
One of my earlier posts on modularized ships that evolved to auxiliary cruisers for the Navy and then to power projection platforms for ground forces in AFRICOM (in Military Review) was this post on creating logistics ships:
Perhaps we could design modules that fit in standard shipping containers that would be available to be secured to civilian ships that could link the ship to our network, add command-and-control facilities and air defense capabilities, support helicopter operations from the deck, and provide for transferring supplies to another ship. The goal would be to basically turn a civilian ship into an instant logistical support ship.
The goal was to support allies--in that case the Netherlands in a conflict with Hugo Chavez over Dutch islands near Venezuela--without stretching our already inadequate logistics assets. It obviously applies to our own Navy if it is larger and operating across a wider area.
