Our proposed Independent Navy For An Independent Nation shall require decades of investment,funded largely by our proposed smaller aircraft fleet,but herein we shall outline a short term "Interim Commando Force" solution to the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare needs,using existing assets.
Those who have seen the film Saving Private Ryan may think that an opposed amphibious landing is a frontal assault against a heavily defended beach,yet amphibious assaults have been performed tens of thousands of times over many thousands of years and strongly contested landings have been a rarity for the same reason that land armies rarely conduct frontal assaults on heavily defended positions,because overwhelming resources are required to successfully conduct such an operation and there are often,but not always,less costly alternatives,particularly for a helicopter equipped amphibious force which does not require a beach accessible by landing craft.
Amphibious operations vary widely in their scale,duration and speed,however,as a general rule it may be said that scale and duration are in proportion to each other and also in proportion to reaction time,such that a small operation of short duration implies and is implied by a short reaction time and conversely a large operation of long duration implies and is implied by a long reaction time.
Therefore amphibious forces may be divided in to those required for rapid reaction,which may be small and require little logistical support but which must be forward deployed in order to react quickly,ideally on fast ships equipped with vehicles and aircraft such as our proposed Falkland class frigates,and those which must be larger and heavier but which need not be routinely forward deployed.
The Royal Navy's proposed Littoral Response Groups shall be capable of satisfying neither of these conditions,a problem which can not be overcome by the use of artificial intelligence,machine learning,autonomy,jet packs,robots or toy helicopters,however,there is an alternative.
In addition to assisting with boardings,security and damage control,detachments of Royal Marines on every naval vessel with the capacity to accommodate them,the largest being aboard the Queen Elizabeth class vessels,when deployed by boat or helicopter and supported by the vessels' own fighting systems shall provide an ability to intervene ashore,thereby providing the United Kingdom with an amphibious rapid reaction capability wherever Royal Navy vessels are deployed,which may not be transformational but is what Royal Marines have been doing for hundreds of years.
Further,one of two Landing Squadrons,each comprised of an Albion class and a Bay class vessel,between them carrying a beach landing unit,shall be ready to react to contingencies at all times,as the situation demands these may operate either independently or with other assets such as the current Carrier Strike Groups and may be supplemented by Point Class transport vessels,eventually all of the Albion,Bay and Point class vessels shall be replaced by our proposed Agincourt class heavy landing ships which shall each carry a beach landing unit in addition to an army brigade and supplies for a month of combat operations.
In both cases,opposed amphibious assaults shall typically involve intelligence analysis,reconnaissance,air raids,naval bombardments,air assaults and,finally,beach landings,contrary to popular myth,competently commanded amphibious operations do not involve vessels sailing up to an unprepared hostile shore while the enemy shoots at them.
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