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The 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. MLP 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 MLPs. 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. The ships are expected to have a 40-year service life.〔(Expeditionary Mobile Base Chesty Puller May Receive SOF Upgrades Before 5th Fleet Deployment ) - News.USNI.org, 2 November 2015〕 In September 2015, the Navy decided to redesignate the MLP as the Expeditionary Transfer Dock (ESD) and the AFSB as the Expeditionary Base Mobile (ESB).〔(A New Class of Ship – 'Expeditionary Support' ) - Navytimes.com, 3 September 2015〕 ==Design== The Mobile Landing Platform 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 MLP, 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.〔 A preliminary design by General Dynamics envisioned a ship that carried six LCACs, with the ability to turn around (dock, unload or load, then launch) two landing craft simultaneously from the stern. The MLPs were to host a brigade-size force, sail at , and have a maximum range of .〔 Each ship was to cost US$1.5 billion to build.〔 However, cutbacks to defense spending planned for the fiscal year 2011 budget forced the downscaling of the design in mid-2009.〔 General Dynamics identified the civilian (built by the subsidiary National Steel and Shipbuilding Company) as a suitable basis for an "MLP '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 MLP, and the LCAC complement was reduced to three.〔 The new design is long, with a beam of , a top speed of over , and a maximum range of .〔 Converteam supply an integrated power system and vessel automation system for the MLP.〔http://www.converteam.com/majic/pageServer/12040001bb0000/en/20110803-US-Navy-Mobile-Landing-Platform.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mobile Landing Platform」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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