US Navy Use of High Speed Ferry Transport Continues With New Charter Agreement

"WestPac Express" charter extended for a further 18 months.

With four years of exemplary service supporting the operations of the US Marine Corps’ Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) in the Western Pacific theatre, the 101 metre aluminium catamaran “WestPac Express” built by the Australian shipyard, Austal has been re-chartered by the US Navy to continue in its role for a further 18 months.

This makes “WestPac Express” the longest serving foreign built high speed vessel in service with the US Defence Forces.

After a competitive bid process, the Theatre Support Vessel (TSV), now more commonly referred to as a High Speed Connector (HSC), was first chartered to the III MEF in July 2001 for a “proof of concept” period. This charter was the first time the US military had contracted a commercial vessel of this type for military support. The charter to III MEF was so successful that the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command signed a three year charter in January 2002, again after receiving several competing offers.

In 2003 the vessel was re-flagged to the United States and holds the distinction of becoming the first large high speed vessel to be registered and flagged as a commercial ship in the United States.

The port of registry for “WestPac Express” is Mobile, Alabama where Austal, in joint venture with Bender Shipbuilding and Repair, established a new shipyard in 1999 specialising in aluminium construction. With eight commercial vessels now completed, ranging in size from 25 to 58 metres the yard is currently building 2 x 105m metre fast passenger-vehicle catamarans.

A current expansion project due for completion in October 2005 will quadruple the size of the existing Mobile facility in preparation for commencement of the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) construction.

As a member of the General Dynamics Littoral Combat Ship (GD LCS) team, Austal is the designer and lead yard for the construction of a new breed of combat ships specifically developed to operate in the littoral (near shore) environment. The GD LCS is based on Austal’s 127 metre, high speed trimaran platform that provides superior payload and aviation capacity. Construction of a potential 60 to 85 ships over a 15 year period has been identified for future US navy fleet requirements.

Transformational technology

Both of these programmes are examples of the US military’s force transformation, and there is no doubt that the high speed, Multi-Mission Platform / Multi-Role Vessel (MRV) technology provided by Austal has already had a huge impact on the future thinking of U.S. Defense Forces.

Capable of sustaining fully loaded speeds of 36 knots, “WestPac Express” can rapidly deploy a complete battalion of up to 970 Marines and 663 tons of vehicles and equipment in a single lift, saving both time and money. The enhanced capability is significant because shorter transit times to and from exercise areas provide Marines with additional opportunities to train in various climates and terrain within the III MEF area of responsibility. This additional training equates to enhanced interoperability with other forces and improved readiness.

For example, the normal transit from Okinawa to South Korea aboard ferry or amphibious shipping would take two to three days. Moving a Marine infantry battalion by air would take fourteen to seventeen C-17 aircraft lifts to deploy, if such a number of planes were available.

Following September 11, 2001 the Air Force often had only two C-17s positioned in the region at any given time and these aircraft were tasked to support the entire U.S. Military Establishment in Korea, Japan and throughout the Western Pacific (WestPac). Given limited airlift support of one or two sorties per day it was previously taking up to two weeks just to move the battalion anywhere off the island of Okinawa.

By contrast, the same deployment could be carried out by “WestPac Express” in 24-30 hours.

Describing the immediate time and cost benefits of “WestPac Express” first deployment in 2001, CW05 Roger G. Rose, Surface Embarkation Officer, II MEF G-4, Strategic Mobility Office, commented, “Instead of a two week process to deploy by air lift WestPac Express moved the unit’s 843 Marines, 63 vehicles and 27 containers of baggage and cargo in 30 hours. Instead of a price-tag of over $500,000 for one-way transportation requiring at least sixteen, C-17 airlifts, WestPac Express did the round trip lift for $130,000.”

Of great benefit to the local Okinawans was the curtailing of military traffic on the island’s roads and reduction of flights out of Kadena with the associated decrease in noise.

Following this much has been written and documented on the continuing reliability, flexibility and opportunity that “WestPac Express” has provided over the following years of service, including;

• Operational availability of 99.7 per cent.
• Ease of loading.
• The ability to simultaneously carry virtually every piece of equipment in the Marine Corps inventory including AAVs, LAVs, HMMWVs (Humvees) and AH-1W Cobra, UH-1N Huey and CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters.

A Case Study – “WestPac Express” supports Tsunami relief efforts

The capabilities of “WestPac Express” whilst well known to the III MEF Marines following a wide variety of exercises and deployments conducted since the vessel’s arrival were put on public display after the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004.

Following a five day voyage from Kin Red port in Okinawa, Japan, “WestPac Express” arrived in Chuk Samet Port, eastern Thailand on January 10, 2005 to support Operation Unified Assistance.

"WestPac Express" is faster than a conventional ship and capable of transporting cargo that would take numerous trips on a standard cargo plane such as a C-130.

“A typical C-130 has a cargo weight limit of roughly 12.5 tonnes. It would take more than 40 trips to bring the same amount of cargo to an area that the “WestPac Express” can bring in one trip,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Donald L. Franks, an air transportation specialist with the Air Force division of CSF-536 in Utapao, Thailand.

Commenting on the shipment of 30 Marines, 35 vehicles - seven ton trucks, Hummers and forklifts - communications gear and shipping containers of military supplies Chief Warrant Officer Perry L. Smith, embarkation officer, commented;

“The draft and speed are the main advantages of this vessel. It gets us where we’re going quickly and can take us to shallow water ports many regular ships can’t. These advantages can prove useful in ferrying relief supplies quickly and efficiently to many different types of ports in support of the humanitarian aid mission.”

Ken Kujala, “WestPac Express” captain reiterated, “The catamaran can enter shallower waters than conventional surface ships. If we have 15 feet of water, we can get into a port.”

“WestPac Express” with her stern ramp can also dock and off-load in minutes whereas other ships can not. Smith said, “The ship needs just a wharf, not an improved pier.”

Commenting before a Pentagon Defense Department Briefing on U.S. Relief Efforts for Tsunami Victims, Admiral Thomas Fargo, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command confirmed “WestPac Express’s” utility and active role in relief operations, “WestPac Express has been almost everywhere in the Pacific over the last 18 months, including down to Australia. I think the message is, is that high speed vessels of this nature, vessels that can move 40, 45 knots, that can carry a great deal of cargo – in this case she’s actually moving helicopters – are going to be a big part of the future.”

The Future

In February 2004 the Deputy Commandant for Combat Development (DC CD) and Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DC NO) for Warfare Requirements and Programs (DC NO N6/N7) chartered an Integrated Process Team (IPT) to further develop the HSC concept and begin transitioning to an acquisition program. The chief tasks for the IPT were to develop a draft concept of operations, establish the key elements of an initial capabilities document to feed joint capabilities integration and development system, and explore potential opportunities to collaborate with the U.S. Army’s Theatre Support Vessel (TSV) program. The IPT was soon broadened to include Army and Special Operations Command representation, and by December 2004 the IPT work was complete.

In December 2004 the Departments of the Army and Navy agreed to merge the HSV, HSC and TSV efforts into the JHSV program administered by the Navy’s Program Executive Officer for Ships (PEO Ships).

The key to progress of the IPT was the development of a common vision of how intratheater connectors would be employed in the future force, especially in the context of seabasing. As a result of the IPT’s efforts, the DC CD and DC NO N6/N7 co-signed the “High-Speed Connector Enabling Concept” in August 2004. The enabling concept highlights the unique role of Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSVs) in providing heretofore unavailable speed, flexibility and versatility in conducting operations.

Perhaps more significantly, the enabling concept provides the definitions and architecture that explain the relationship between intertheatre, intratheatre and tactical lift assets – both air and surface – critical to networking the seabase. It is this architecture that will link together the various nodes, including home stations and advanced bases, amphibious shipping, maritime prepositioning forces, and strategic sealift, to provide the seabasing capability needed to project and sustain joint forces.

Within this framework, JHSVs provide the intratheatre surface connector capability critical to linking the advance base to the seabase, the nodes of the seabase to one another, and the seabase to the shore. While not envisioned as an assault craft, JHSVs provide the capability to rapidly manoeuvre forces to the shore using austere ports or makeshift offload points.

Whilst the LCS program is currently being prioritised there is the possibility that the LCS vessel, or a modification of it, could be used as a basis for the JHSV’s.

ENDS