LO.
The flight 0 America class are aviation focussed ships they've been after doing this for a long time witness the original LHA's. You can argue that it's not successful or whaTever but the fact is they keep trying to implement it. Doctrinally air sea manouver is seen as important, island hoping in the pacific and all that. I don't see any sign of that going away.
Maybe I'm missing your point here but really really I don't see how planning assumptions from multiple decades ago flow into current planning assumptions. By that logic (I'm exagerating I know) we should break out HMS Tremaire and the flat boats cos the RN managed successful beach landing amphib operations during the Seven Years war in 1761?
There are also clearly big proponents of having a well deck available so the next flight will certainly have them but they will be smaller, personally I think the next flight will end up being a couple of 1000 tonnes in displacement heavier again in the same way the flight 0's are heavier than the Makin Island 'sub class' LHD.
There are more high hat maintenance areas, workshops in the back for maintenance duties, much more storage for aviation fuel and additional bunkerage for ammunition doesn't really sound like a lash up to me?
Last edited by eaglemmoomin; 31st Mar 2013 at 21:35.