How is the USS Makin Island, the “small aircraft carrier” sent by the United States to the South China Sea

With its 41,000 tonnes of travel by trailer, The huge island USS Makin, a US Navy amphibious assault ship, crossed the Strait of Malacca in the South China Sea on Wednesday amid mounting tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The deployment of Makin Island, accompanied by the support ship USS San Diego, in the Southeast Asia region joins that of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in Malaysia and the destroyers USS Mustin and USS John McCain in the East China Sea.

Together they form a huge and very powerful war fleet which was captured via satellite by the South China Sea Strategic Research Initiative (SCSPI), an organization based in Beijing, and whose presence demonstrates Washington’s intention to respond to the increasing military deployments and maneuvers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy in recent times.

The USS Makin Island, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, It does not have the size or power of an American nuclear powered aircraft carrier like those of the Nimitz class (the same as Theodore Roosevelt) or the more modern of the Gerald Ford class, both with displacements of over 100,000 tonnes. But this should not imply that the ship, considered a “small aircraft carrier” by the US Navy, is not capable of: It has an advanced air component, carries a large defensive armament and can transport and deploy 1,600 Marines, in addition to a displacement of 41,000 tons.

According to official information from the US Navy, the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships They are designed to support the operations of the Marine Corps, that is, the marine infantry tasked with carrying out amphibious assaults. In this way, ships must enter a threat-laden theater of operations to quickly mount a landing operation on beaches controlled by enemy forces.

This means that in theory only one of these multi-purpose ships can not only deploy troops to execute a landing, but also provide air support for those operations. In practice, however, a landing would be assisted by a huge fleet.

Thus, its decks are not prepared for the operation of conventional on-board combat aircraft, such as the F / A-18 SuperHornet or the F-35C Lightning II (the aircraft carrier version of the most modern American fighter). But they allow the operation of 4 attack helicopters (AH-1W Super Cobra), 16 transport helicopters (CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-53E Sea Stallion)and aircraft for vertical take-off and landing or on reduced runways such as the MV-22 Osprey. Regarding the latter capability, the Wasp-class ships in the past carried the American version of the mythical British fighter Harrier (the AV-8B Harrier), although in recent years they have started deploying 6 F-35Bs (the vertical take-off and landing version of the mighty stealth fighter) to replace them.

Manufactured by the Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Ingalls Operations shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the first Wasp-class vessel entered service in 1989 and the last, Makin Island (code LHD 8), in 2009, In total, 8 of these ships were built, the largest of their kind in the world.

Like the other ships in the class, The USS Makin Island is powered by two gas turbines powered by conventional fuel and a total output of 70,000 horsepower, although the LHD 8 also has an APS electric auxiliary propulsion system designed to reduce the costs of operation. It has a length (length) of 253 meters and a beam (width) of 31 meters, with a displacement of approximately 41,000 tonnes at full load.

The ship is with 994 sailors and 65 officers, and can transport 1,687 Marines (roughly the equivalent of a battalion) and their corresponding landing vehicles. By comparison, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier carries a crew of 5,000, including sailors and airmen.

In addition to the air component, Makin Island has for its defense two RIM-116 RAM launchers and two RIM-7 Sea Sparrow launchers, the two anti-aircraft missiles. These systems are supplemented by two 20-millimeter Phalanx CIWS automatic cannons, four .50 caliber heavy machine guns and three 25-millimeter heavy machine guns.

“The modern amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy project power and maintain a presence by serving as the cornerstone of expeditionary forces,” indicates the navy

At a unit price of $ 750 million (according to Military Today), compared to the $ 8.5 billion a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier costs, and lower operating costs, Wasp-classes, like Makin Island, are also a more versatile option for this type of deployment.

KEEP READING: