| While racking my brains about the Normandy operation, trying to answer a question recently, I suddenly realized that with rollon rolloff and container ships, replacing the old break bulk cargo ships used as freighters and transports, I had no clue as to how you would unload those types of vessels directly over the beach if you had to make a forced entry into a country in expeditionary division/corps strength without a port immediately available and no friendly neighbor to offer you a land access approach.
The only thing I could imagine was that the Army and/or the Navy had some plan, where you have some kind of floating crane(A seagoing barge crane?) that could pluck containers off a container ship, and deposit those containers on some kind of truck loaded aboard an LCAC or pontoon ferry.
That same LCAC or pontoon ferry would be configured to accept ro-ro ramping so that you could drive truck-loaded cargo straight off the ro-ro to the LCAC/ferry. It chugs to the beach, and then the trucks drive ashore.
Am I nuts or is this kind of operation as I imagined it even remotely feasable?
Herald |
