US amphibious ships facing new issues, half of 32 ships in good condition

• A new GAO report shows only half of the U.S. Navy’s 32 amphibious ships are in satisfactory condition, with the rest classified as being in poor material condition. This poses a significant challenge for the Marine Corps, which relies on these vessels for rapid response missions.
• Many amphibious ships, including assault ships and dock landing ships, suffered from deferred maintenance and repair cancellations, leading to major breakdowns and reduced fleet readiness.
• The Navy must maintain a 31-ship amphibious fleet, but with a 20-year maintenance backlog and increasing competition from China’s rapidly growing naval force, creative solutions and extended service life for aging vessels may be necessary.

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The long history of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) is full of tales about the elite fighting force making amphibious assaults and littoral operations look easy, but they aren’t. And according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the job could soon get a lot harder.

Tasked with taking the fight from the ships to the shores, Marines must be able to react quickly to changing dynamics. That could mean taking and holding contested territory, which also means equipment.

As part of the Department of the Navy, the USMC and its sister service work together to operate several classes of amphibious ships — all designed to allow the Marines to be the first in the fight.

The troubling state of the fleet

A December report from the GAO shows that, of the 32 amphibious vessels in the U.S. fleet, only half are in “satisfactory” shape. The other half are classified as being in a state of “poor material condition.”

There are nine amphibious assault ships in the fleet. They come in two classes:

• The America-class: Landing helicopter assault (LHA)
• The Wasp-class: Landing helicopter dock (LHD)

Amphibious assault ships are generally thought of as the largest and most capable amphibious vessels. They can launch and land aircraft, and some have a well dock to transport the different landing craft Marines might need.

These ships are crucial to the USMC’s mission of responding within hours, whether for military operations or humanitarian efforts. They also provide aerial support with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

However, more than half of these powerful ships — 5 out of 9 — are currently considered to be in poor material condition.

Dock landing ships and maintenance failures

A similar story emerges when examining the fleet’s 10 dock landing ships. The Navy initially planned to retire all of them before the end of their service life, canceling all scheduled major maintenance periods. But Congress intervened, ordering the ships to stay in service. Unfortunately, those maintenance periods were never rescheduled.

Driving a car for thousands of miles after needing an oil change is a surefire way to burn out parts. The same is true for naval vessels, but on a much grander scale. Many of the amphibious ships that needed vital repairs never received them, leading to major breakdowns.

For example:

• USS Germantown was placed in a special, vaguely defined “super continuous maintenance availability” status due to years of deferred repairs.
• USS Tortuga, still technically on the Navy’s active roster, has essentially been in repair since 2013.

In 2023, seven of the 13 incidents affecting fleet readiness were tied to diesel engine problems on dock landing ships.

Charting a path forward

The Navy is statutorily obligated to maintain a fleet of 31 amphibious ships. There are plans to build four new vessels, but the GAO warns that the Navy and Marine Corps will need to find creative solutions to maintain that benchmark. This could involve extending the service life of ships already in desperate need of repair.

Meanwhile, the Navy is also grappling with other shipbuilding challenges, a 20-year maintenance backlog, and growing concerns about a “near-peer adversary” in China. The People’s Liberation Army Navy is building new ships at a faster rate than any other fleet in the world, preparing for what some believe is an inevitable assault on Taiwan.