What if Amphibious Warfare Vessels

[tigercat]

So what potential out there is there for strange weird and wonderful Amphibious Warfare vessels.

Italian , German Japanese as well as Allied


1st up the Casa Grande dock landing ship


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Grande_class_dock_landing_ship

Plus helicopter deck and with WW2 Helicopters being slightly more developed it could have fufilled a similar role to HMS Frearless and HMS Intrepid.

[Weaver]

The French Ouragan classs are certainly "distinctive":

   


They have a sliding helideck over the aft part of the well deck, so that small patrol craft with tall masts can be carried instead of traditional landing craft. This facility was used to carry P400 calss patrol boats back and forth between France and her various far-flung territories.

The Foudre class have a similar capability:

[tigercat]

I saw the french Mistral in Malta last year it was an impressive beast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral_class_amphibious_assault_ship

[tigercat]

Does anyone know if the 2 Landing Ship Ship Stern Chute needed the bridge they are seen with in some photos for landing landing craft or was it from when they were converted back to hauling rolling stock.

[Go4fun]

I think it's more like a landing control tower for helicopter operations.

[rickshaw]

Does anyone know if the 2 Landing Ship Ship Stern Chute needed the bridge they are seen with in some photos for landing landing craft or was it from when they were converted back to hauling rolling stock.

If you mean this vessel:



I think it was more for handling the ramp used for loading/unloading the rolling stock.  It may also have been a strength member for the stern, bracing the ship's sides.

[tigercat]

Cheers

http://www.adimin.org/dis_naval_ferry.htm

I found a model of the one member of the class that didn't serve as a LSS

[tigercat]

Heres another interesting  Amphibious warfare craft I discovered in Maurice Cockers book on RN Coastal Craft


The Landing Craft Gun Tower

A semi submersible  inshore monitor catamaran

"As the contract for the army forts was coming to an end in 1943, Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked Maunsell for his thoughts on a submersible reinforced concrete and steel gun tower, also for possible use during the Normandy landings.
Maunsell designed a vessel that could move under its own power and submerge close to a coastline, with just the guns above the water. Its catamaran hull supported a pillbox with two 150mm howitzers. Only one vessel was built, partly at Surrey Commercial Dock and completed at Red Lion Wharf in November 1943, with trials off Gravesend the same month. Named the Landing Craft Gun (Tower) by the Admiralty, it was sold after the war and used in Hong Kong Harbour as a recovery vessel."

[Joe C-P]

Just when I think we're more inventive than reality, along comes another story like this one.