'PhilipG' perhaps the USMC getting back to operating in the littorals has been missed by you. Perhaps using a Sea Base is where they are at? These concepts promulgated by the USMC for several years now (rather than being seen as a second land army) has been tested in the 'Bold Alligator' series of recent exercises. Sea Base has other acronyms such as OMFTS and whatnots. But anyway searching the internet or reading (shock horror) some SLDinfo articles or even a USMC website might give you some info?