Joint Task Force #1: Liberia Read Online Free PDF Page B

defeating each opposing force element one by one.
    The USS Boxer amphibious task force had six of the prototype aircraft on board, along with a mix of CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters, Cobra Attack helicopters, and a couple of Harrier fighter jets. Belowdecks, this great amphibious ship carried two LCACs—Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicles—along with a few conventional landing craft.
    Those conventional landing craft from the USS Boxer, USS Nassau, and the USS Belleau Wood made up the bulk of Holman’s attacking force. The Boxer ’s two LCACs, traveling with the two from the Belleau Wood, passed across Holman’s line of vision, heading north along the coast. The four air-cushioned vehicles flew across the water like aircraft withoutwings. Holman lowered his binoculars. Heavy rubber skirts surrounded the hulls of the LCACs, directing high-pressure air downward to bounce off the surface of the water and ricochet up against the craft, keeping them floating a few feet above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Without the drag of having to bore holes through the water, the LCACs were capable of speeds in excess of forty knots. Armor plating surrounded the exposed hulls and decks of the LCACs. Heavy machine guns provided additional protection and limited firepower to support an assault. This was essential because a capability the LCAC had over conventional landing craft was that it could hit the beach without slowing and ride that air cushion farther inland to disembark Marines. With the LCACs, the conventional landing craft, and the versatile Osprey, the United States Marine Corps could disrupt any hostile defense in a matter of minutes.
    Unlike conventional landing craft, rough shores and shallow water had little effect on the LCACs’ advantage of being able to slip ashore nearly anywhere along a coastline. They could transition from an at-sea environment, continue over the sand, up the dunes, and through the grasses until terrain, logistics, or operations forced them to stop. LCACs were another transport arm that added to the Marine Corps capacity to attack from more directions than just a sandy, sloping beach.
    The four LCACs passed between a second wave of conventional landing craft that were dropping their ramps onto the main beachhead and the third wave approaching from the shelter of the amphibious task force.
    “If they knew how much danger those helmsmen in the third wave presented, they’d be at maximum speed and running for cover,” said Upmann.
    Holman watched the crossing, his tactical mind churning through the possibilities of how LCACs could disrupt an opposing amphibious landing. Using the same situation he was watching, it would be similar to the old warships of sail whose tactics involved crossing the bow of an enemy ship so all their cannons could be fires simultaneously. Right now, he thought, if those LCACs were enemy, the heavy machine guns on their decks would be sufficient to tear through both waves of unarmed conventional amphibious craft. Not only would it defeata beach assault, stranding those already on shore, but also it would destroy the very craft needed to mount a second attack or effect a rescue. He bit his lower lip. It would also send hundreds of Marines to the bottom.
    Holman shrugged his shoulders. While he could envision the tactic, he couldn’t see where he would ever have an opportunity to employ it. There were no Naval forces in the world with the capability to mount such a projection of force from the sea. Then he thought of People’s Republic of China. He was one of those die-hard warriors who knew in his heart that someday America was going to have to fight that Asiatic giant. China had been hard at work building its armed forces and increasing its amphibious-assault capability. Its national strategy indicated a belief that the only way to bring “the rebel province” of Taiwan under control was through military conquest. He put both hands on the railing and leaned forward,