Marine Corps Needs 9 More Warships to Deploy More MEUs, Officials Say

The U.S. Marine Corps has indicated that the service needs nine more amphibious warships to carry out its work.

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps leaders have agreed they need 40 amphibious ships to be able to deploy three Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) at the same time, according to a Nov. 5 report by The War Zone, with the ships being integral to the services’ military operations.

The Navy currently has 31 of these vessels, as Congress mandates as a minimum.

“We will have to await future congressional funding for these,” Lt. Col. Eric D. Flanagan, a USMC spokesperson, told The War Zone.

Military.com reached out to the Marines and the Navy for comment.

Amphibious Ships’ Role in the Military

Amphibious ships are specialized warships engineered to project power by transporting and launching ground forces directly from sea to shore.

These ships are important because they bypass the requirement for friendly, established deep-water ports to land Marines, tanks and supplies onto hostile beaches.

MEUs are made up of around 2,200 Marines and typically use these vessels for their operations.

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023, Congress made a 31-ship amphibious fleet mandate, enacting a statutory minimum of ships needed.

Lawmakers enacted that minimum to halt the Navy’s repeated attempts to decommission aging amphibious hulls early without an immediate replacement plan.

Congressional Involvement Likely Required

Shon Brodie, director of Maritime Expeditionary Warfare at the Marine Corps’ Combat Development and Integration (CD&I) Directorate, told reporters last Wednesday that Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) Adm. James W. Kilby and the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps (ACMC) Gen. Bradford J. Gering have worked to find out that 40 ships is the optimal number to provide more MEUs.

“The two analytical arms of both services have come to the conclusion that it takes 40 ships,” Brodie said. “That’s 13 big decks and 27 LPDs.”

He added that the Amphibious Force Readiness Board (AFRB), a joint Navy-Marine Corps effort, helped gather knowledge about ship requirements.

Brodie added that Kilby and Gering plan to approach Congress later this month to make their case for the need for more ships.

But the project is expected to take some time.

“I’ve got a sheet sitting right here in front of me that tells me how we get there,” Brodie said. “You can’t get there tomorrow, right?

“The only way for me to realistically increase that inventory is for me to build new ships and do a service-life extension on some of the selective ships that I currently have in the inventory.”