Amphibious Warfare - Cold War and After
The Cold War period, from mid-1950s to the late 1980s, saw a slow decline in cooperation between the services. The daily routines of peacetime and the low-intensity conflicts of the period (the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War) allowed few opportunities and little motivation for regular training in joint operations. For a time after 1945, limited joint training was continued in the Port Stephens area. In general, however, the postwar period was one of retrenchment. Among the first to go were the many specialist units required for amphibious warfare. The RAN's 10th Flotilla,of Landing Ships-Tank (LST), for example, was disbanded in 1951. Even when units survived, their existence was often vestigial and they were often allocated to the reserve components of the three services.
During the Vietnam War, the old aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney was employed as a fast troop transport, which underlined the value of the strategic transport capabilities of the Navy, but in the period following the Vietnam War single-service issues or inter-service rivalries dominated thinking. Without a clearly defined threat, strategic guidance once again drifted towards the belief that Australia's armed forces should only be concerned with continental defence. In the 1980s, only the Kangaroo exercise series gave the ADF any practice in the use of joint forces. In the mid-1990s the ADF possessed only rudimentary joint doctrine, little suitable equipment and no clear concept for the conduct of amphibious operations.
Post-Cold War
From the mid-1990s, a series of economic and political crises in the Asia-Pacific region gave fresh impetus to inter-service cooperation, largely by illustrating the need for Australia to adopt a maritime strategy as the only effective method to safeguard her regional national interests. A corollary of this new strategic direction was the need for the RAN and the Army in particular to give fresh thought to the problems of amphibious operations. As part of this the Navy purchased two US Navy Newport Class landing ships, which were later commissioned as the amphibious transports, HMA Ships Manoora and Kanimbla. These ships afforded the ADF the capability to transport large numbers of troops and equipment, as well as providing significant deployable command and control and medical facilities.
The Army also decided to return to service a limited number of amphibious cargo lighters, and together these developments meant the ADF's small amphibious capability received a significant boost. Between 1999 and 2001, both the Navy and the Army gave serious attention to the development of operational concepts for this rejuvenated capability.
In March 2000 the RAN created the Amphibious and Afloat Support Group (AASG). Based at Garden Island in Sydney, elements of the AASG have been constantly deployed since it began operations. The AASG's amphibious force comprises nine vessels: the two LPAs Manoora and Kanimbla, a heavy landing ship HMAS Tobruk and six landing craft heavy, based in Cairnsand Darwin. These vessels have provided support for ADF operations in Bougainville, East Timor, the Arabian Gulf,Iraq, the Solomon Islands and humanitarian relief operations in the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunamis.
During the same period, the Army has developed a doctrine for the employment of land forces in a maritime strategy and developed the capability to fly Blackhawk helicopter operations from the RAN's amphibious vessels. In addition, the Army's LCM8 landing craft have operated with the RAN in East Timor, the Arabian Gulf, Iraq, the Solomon Islands, and in Aceh, following the 2004 tsunami).ADF deployments since 1999 have again demonstrated the value and flexibility of amphibious forces for conducting a range of missions. From border protection and humanitarian relief to peacekeeping, stability and combat operations,the ADF has made extensive use of this small, but important capability. Although these recent missions have not been the classic, large-scale beach landings that the term 'amphibious operation' retains in the popular imagination, they have nevertheless been important military undertakings in support of Australia's national interests.
In August 2005, recognising the value of possessing a viable amphibious capability, the government approved the first stage of a project to replace the LPAs with larger amphibious ships in the 20,000+ ton class, capable of carrying up to 1000 troops each. With the first of the new class of vessels intended to enter service withthe RAN by 2012, these larger ships will, if the project goes ahead, provide the ADF with increased capability for allaspects of the amphibious force.
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