US Congress Asks About Arming Navy Cargo Ships

Adding missile launch capability to cargo ships boosts America's combat power AP

Forbes: Desperate For More Firepower, Congress Asks About Arming Navy Cargo Ships

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing in June, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), inquired into the potential for incorporating Mk 41 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) into the cargo ships operated by the Virginia-based Military Sealift Command, remarking, “I just think that’s a concept that requires further examination.”

Representative Luria, a former Navy captain and an up-and-coming member of the House Armed Services Committee, has a point. Adding 64 VLS cells to each of America’s 14 Lewis and Clark class dry cargo/ammunition ships, called, in military parlance, T-AKEs, would bring 896 VLS cells to the fleet, cheaply. And, given that the 14 T-AKEs and 17 fuel-distributing oilers currently on the U.S. Navy’s battle fleet inventory generally operate at sea for six months or more every single year, adding missiles on these otherwise unarmed platforms puts substantial firepower forward.

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WNU Editor: Arming the US Navy's cargo ships is an old idea. But it is an idea that should be explored and IMHO implemented.