How is the new Light Amphibious Warship (LAW) design any better than a LST (Landing Ship, Tank) which operated in World War II (and after, of course)?
I'm really not happy with how the proposed LAW ship class is unfolding. How is it possible to think a slow and unarmed vessel can survive, let alone complete their missions? If the threat environment is low enough to do both, the Navy (and Air Force) has already won control of the seas--or it is peacetime still.
If these are supposed to roam around planting small Marine detachments capable of fighting the Chinese navy, I think the World War II model should be the destroyer transport (APD), as I wrote about in Proceedings a few years ago.
Heck, at least the LST had a top. Will the Marines only deploy in good weather?
But no, we'll build a BWP class of ships for the Marines.
