1/700 Expeditionary Transfer Dock Vessel (Scratchbuilt)
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by Chris King |
1/700 Expeditionary Transfer Dock Vessel (Scratchbuilt)
This is my 1/700 scratch-built U.S. Navy Expeditionary Transfer Dock vessel. The hull is from balsa wood, and the bridge structures are highly modified from a 3-D printed 1/700 Jahre Viking bridge I purchased on the Shapeways website.The excavator, fuel tankers, Assault Breacher Vehicles (loaded on LCACs), AAVP-7 recovery vehicles, and UH-1Y Venom chopper are custom-made. The infantry AAVP-7s and standard cargo trucks are from JAG Collective. The LAV-25s are from a Hobby Boss USS Kearsarge kit. LCACs came from a Tamiya Shimokita kit.
According to Wikipedia, the Expeditionary Transfer Dock (ESD), formerly Mobile Landing Platform (MLP), is a type of amphibious assault ship being constructed for the United States Navy, with the first ship due to enter service in 2013. ESD ships are to serve as floating bases for amphibious operations, and operate as a transfer point between large ships and small landing craft. Proof-of-concept testing began in 2005, with heavy lift ships serving as substitutes for the ESDs. General Dynamics' National Steel and Shipbuilding Company was awarded a contract to design and build the first ship in late 2010, with construction beginning in July 2011. The United States Navy initially plans to acquire three vessels (with a possible fourth proposed in 2012, and fifth in 2014), which will be designated the Montford Point class. In September 2015, the Navy decided to redesignate the MLP as the Expeditionary Transfer Dock (ESD) and the AFSB as the Expeditionary Mobile Base (ESB).
The Expeditionary Transfer Dock concept calls for a large auxiliary support ship to facilitate the 'seabasing' of an amphibious landing force by acting as a floating base or transfer station that can be prepositioned off the target area. Troops, equipment, and cargo would be transferred to the MLP by large-draft ships, from where it can be moved ashore by shallower-draft vessels, landing craft like the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), or helicopters. In order to transfer vehicles from the larger ships to the ESD, the vessels were originally to be fitted with a Vehicle Transfer System; a ramp connecting the two ships alongside, and able to compensate for the movements of both vessels while underway
General Dynamics identified the civilian Alaska-class oil tanker as a suitable basis for an "ESD 'Lite'", with the design modified into a float-on/float-off vessel that could be built for US$500 million per ship. As part of the cost trade-off, the Vehicle Transfer System was scrapped in favor of skin-to-skin mooring of a host ship alongside the ESD, and the LCAC complement was reduced to three. The new design is 785 feet (239 m) long, with a beam of 164 feet (50 m), a top speed of over 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), and a maximum range of 9,500 nautical miles (17,600 km; 10,900 mi). Converteam supply an integrated power system and vessel automation system for the ESD.
