The U.S. Navy’s Mighty Amphibious Assault Ships: The Ultimate Navy/Marine Corps Combination

Some 55 years ago now, as a newly minted Navy Hospital Corpsman, I received orders for what is known as the Fleet Marine Force (FMF). I would spend the next almost 3 years serving with Marine units at Camp Lejeune and in Vietnam. This video is about the latest iteration of the Navy/Marine Corps relationship that goes all the way back to the time of the Revolutionary War. This is how they work together to project immense air, land, and sea power swiftly and powerfully, anywhere in the world.

There is no more versatile warship in the U.S. Navy. These Wasp-class Amphibious Assault Ships are a complex amalgam of an aircraft carrier as well as a troop ship, providing a variety of means to get Marines ashore in numbers, with all of the vehicles, ammo, artillery, and necessary supplies, rapidly, both from the air and the sea. They can provide those Marines with aerial support, both offensively and for rapid delivery of further troops and supplies.

You will get a sense of what life is like aboard these huge 24,900 sq.ft ships for both the sailors and the Marines. They can carry a complement of 1,000 sailors and 1,690 Marines. They bristle with a variety of defensive weapons, as well as the ability to project an immense amount of offensive assault power with incredible speed.

These ships carry a complement of aircraft as well, from fixed-wing vertices landing fighter jets like F-35Bs and Harriers to helicopters like Ospreys, CH-53 Stallions, UH-Y Hueys, Cobras, and Seahawks, some for close-in aerial firepower support and some for troop carrying and resupply missions.

These ships are also built with huge 13,000 sq.ft. well decks that can be opened and flooded to launch and recover hovercraft and landing craft utility.

This video is a superb presentation of how incredibly versatile these Wasp-class, Amphibious Assault Ships are. And there is nowhere else that you will get a better sense of the coordinated power that this Navy/Marine Corps relationship represents.

These mighty ships connect the modern Navy and Marine Corps to their earliest roots and extend their mutual power like never before. Awesome!