Future Joint Support Ships

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MikeJames
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Future Joint Support Ships

Post by MikeJames »

At the Pacific 2019 maritime expo I learned that Navantia were pitching a locally modified version of the Spanish Navy's Galicia class (and the Dutch Navy's Rotterdam class) landing platform dock ships for an emerging RAN requirement for 1 or 2 Joint Support Ships.

They aren't small ships, some 14,000 tonnes, 176 metres in length and a beam of 25 metres, maximum speed in 20 knots and a range of around 6,000 nautical miles.

They will have a vehicle deck for Army's vehicles, a flooding well deck to allow the ships landing craft to transport said vehicles ashore, a flight deck and hangars for two Taipan transport helicopters and room for some 300 troops on deployment. The similar sized Galicia class can accommodate 130 APCs or 33 MBTs, though Army's Abrams tanks and the new Boxer armoured recon vehicles / APCs are bigger than their counterparts used by the Spanish marines.

The well deck can launch and recover two LCM-1E large landing craft. Navantia Australia is hopeful to keep the crew size below 160 sailors. The JSS comes with full medical facilities (dental, X-ray, operating rooms, critical unit intensive care ward etc…). One interesting addition is that this design is fitted with a single Replenishment At Sea kingpost on each side. The JSS design combines 70% of the load capacity of HMAS Choules LPD and 70% of the fuel capacity of the now decommissioned HMAS Success, including 600 tons marine diesel capacity, 600 tons of aviation fuel and 400 tons of fresh water.

Not quite sure what these ships mean for Chules. Chules is slightly larger with no hangar, no replenishment capability and no hospital. It is possible that the arrival of these new ships will allow Choules to be re-roled into the Pacific Support Ship that was proposed earlier this year, travelling round the South Pacific, working with local governments and military forces on operations to assist local communities. Choules has been doing some of that this year.


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glenhowells
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Re: Future Joint Support Ships

Post by glenhowells »

Seem to be very capable ships The future fleet will be an impressive fleet for a small navy. They need a big recruiting drive to man all these vessels. We have not got the man power to crew the current fleet A navy should be at sea not tied alongside a berth in harbour.
Cheers Glen
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MikeJames
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Re: Future Joint Support Ships

Post by MikeJames »

Hence the drive for smaller crews.

These ships have crews smaller than Tobruk, Manoora or Kanimba did, while being much larger and delivering more capability.

Mike
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Re: Future Joint Support Ships

Post by glenhowells »

Hi Mike first off congrats on life membership for the club. Is there any more news on these joint support ships. I suspect that these ships will be home ported as FBE. if they come to be FBE will become a little cramped as stated they are sizeable ships along with Choules ,LHD's and Supply coming on line next year.
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Re: Future Joint Support Ships

Post by littoralcombat »

Will need some ' Five Eyes' Navy recruitment to man/woman all these new Ships/ Subs me thinks Guys.
:hlp:
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MikeJames
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Re: Future Joint Support Ships

Post by MikeJames »

Thank you for the kind words Glen.

About berthing, almost certainly they will be FBE ported. There are'n many regular Army units requiring regular ship lift in Western Australia, they are in SA (armour), NSW and QLD (Inf and Cav) and NT (Cav), plus GI is the only place large enough to berth ships of this size for maintenance.

To deal with the wharf space issues there are a number of solutions in play. The old Cruiser and Oil wharf's are being completely replaced by new wharf's, stressed for heavy vehicles. Currently in places, driving a laden semi-trailer onto those wharves will see the decking collapse under the weight.

Currently work is underway to straighten the wharves, make them large enough for both Adelaide and Canberra to berth at the same time and allow them to support and allow loading of the heaviest items in the services inventory, up to Abrams tanks, Boxer APCs, recovery vehicles and fully laden B-Double semi-trailers. That will become the permanent home for the LPAs when in Sydney.

Further ahead is Plan Beacon, which calls for the relocation of the fleet from the current Fleet Base East to the Eastern side of Garden Island.

Three or four new wharf's will be built projecting straight out into the harbour from the eastern side of Garden Island, pointing towards HMAS Watson and Sydney Heads. These wharves will be large enough to allow a LPA and an AWD (or Hunter I suspect) to tie up alongside each side of the wharf, allowing for pretty much all of the future fleet to be berthed at GI or the rebuilt Oil and Cruiser Wharves.

Plan Beacon is probably a decade away, but Navy is confident enough of it that they have briefed the NSW Government, which is how I came to be aware of it. It will mean the Navy's warships are berthed more securely from overly interested eyes and from a potential terrorist attack. The downside is they will be further away from people like us. :tdown:

As for recruitment, yes, that has become a bigger problem for the RAN than money, they have the money to build ships and subs, buy ships and helos, but nowhere near enough people.

Mike
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