I have an unconfirmed report that the tools for JLOTS including various crane ships have activated.
See Without the Port, JLOTs could help
Army JLOTS photos (to right) by Mike W Petersen.
Photos below provided by reader/commentator Leesea:
All show crane ship operations in conjunction with JLOTS. If you are going to move heavy equipment for infrastructure tear downs and repair, camp site building and the like, you need all this stuff.
UPDATE:
Using Roll On-Roll-Off ships with INLS will get much needed earth movers on the shore.UPDATE: More on JLOTS here (describing a 2006 exercise):
Logistics-Over-the-Shore (LOTS) operations discharge strategic vessels without the benefit of a fixed port. Large ships are anchored in mid-stream while a floating platform called a Roll-on/Roll-Off Discharge Facility (RRDF) is deployed next to the ship's ramp. The cargo is downloaded onto the RRDF and then loaded onto smaller watercraft called lighterage and transported directly to the beach or temporary piers. Both the Army and Navy have assets to conduct LOTS operations.What it looks like with a Roll-On Roll-Off ship:
Photo caption:
USNS Pililaau (T-AKR-304) anchored off the coast of Red Beach in Camp Pendelton, CA., 24 July 2008, with the roll-on/roll-off discharge facility attached to the improved Navy lighterage system during Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore (JLOTS) 2008. JLOTS 2008 is an engineering, logistical training exercise between Army and Navy units under a joint force commander as a means to load and unload ships without the benefit of deep draft-capable, fixed port facilities. US Navy photo # 080724-N-1424C-197 PACIFIC OCEAN (July 24, 2008) by MC2 Brian P. Caracci.And more on the Army side here:
Soldiers with the 331st Transportation Company fromAnd, of course, a video:
Fort Eustis, Va., "stab" the beach with the Army Trident Pier July, 21 during Joint Logistics Over the Shore 2008. The Trident Pier is a floating causeway that will allow Soldiers and Sailors to move rolling stock and shipping containers from ships anchored at sea onto the shore using an improvised port. The critical training the Soldiers and Sailors receive allows them to quickly and efficiently move equipment from ship to shore for military missions or humanitarian assistance when a port is nonexistent or has been destroyed. (Photo by Sgt. Stephen Proctor, JTF8 Public Affairs)
No other country in the world can bring this sort of "ready now" equipment to a disaster area.
What about modeling the Marine Corps' MPF program for a "planned" USG response to humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations? "HADR Ships" would be similar to MPF ships (JLOTS capable) but, in lieu of Marine combat equipment, they would carry HADR applicaple supplies and equipment - tents, cots, blankets, food, field hospital(s), comms equipment, heavy machinery for debris clearance, etc. Unlike carriers or destroyers hanging off the coast or marines, sailors, and soldiers storming the beach, these platforms of USG "humanitarian power projection" might send a better strategic message. DOD has the KSAs to operate the ships but this would give USAID and FEMA (for domestic disasters) the opportunity to design the cargo load and direct the missions - returning DOD to an appropriate "support" role and leaving USAID and FEMA as the USG "face" of HA and DR operations. Not how things played out necessarily with responses to Hurricane Katrina or Haiti Earthquake.
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