AOR Replacement & the Joint Support Ship (Merged Threads)

[Pelorus]

FGS Frankfurt am Main (Berlin-class) participated in RIMPAC 24 along with Asterix and HMNZS  Aotearoa as the three non-US AORs in the exercise. Speaking with some Americans, many of them are seeing the utility posed by a "small" (by USN standards) AOR that brings more to the table than just replenishment capabilities, and were impressed by the  Berlin-class.

I doubt you'll see any significant change in the types of AORs that the US is building in the short term, but there's definitely staff-level interest on the operational side.

 

[Stoker]

Would love to see say 4 Tide Class or equivalent built offshore, wholly crewed by civilians and used to service USN and NATO ships in the North Atlantic. It would buy so much good will and pay them back for all the freebees we received over the years. Do the same for the Pacific. Actually be a reliable defence partner.

 

[Underway]

We could keep building Protecteur Class AORs and the USN would be very happy…

I think building JSS 3 is actually something people are thinking about after Seaspan finishes their Coast Guard vessels. I have some design notes though for things that should be changed. The list will be bigger when we get to test out the ships.

A third JSS build well after the first two would also match the German build drumbeat. The Bohn is actually the ship design we bought, which has some significant differences than the Berlin as it was built about 10 years later and they learned from it.