The platform supposedly designed to ensure that landing craft carrying Marines reach the beach fully equipped is facing big challenges—so big some drastic measures may need to be taken.
Consider the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP). It is not a carrier, nor an Aegis cruiser or destroyer, nor a littoral combat ship. And it’s not an amphibious warship, either. In short, it’s not even mainstream Navy—not high-tech, not sexy, and not on the radarscope of most typical surface warfare officers, aviators, or submariners. It’s going to be a part of the Maritime Prepositioning Force, or MPF. What’s that, you say? “Oh yeah, the MPF. I think that has something to do with the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, doesn’t it? No? Well, then it must have something to do with the Marine Corps, but it’s definitely not something I’ll ever deal with.” How is it going to work? “No clue, no idea, not my deal. Can we move on to another topic now?”
