Deploying from ship decks: naval 'sea base' supporters seek to prove worth to Army.

• Author: Jean, Grace

Navy officials have drawn up plans to deploy a floating military base capable of supporting two combat brigades by 2019.

It is not yet clear, however, whether the sea base concept is based on solid analysis or whether its potential benefits justify the cost, critics argue.

"Sea basing as a concept is very, very good," said Robert Work, senior naval analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "It just needs to be scrubbed much more carefully with an eye toward joint payoff."

Work said the concept was hijacked by advocates who believe that sea bases are the answer to the Pentagon's demands for rapid-reaction forces that can deploy to a major combat zone in 10 days and defeat an enemy in 30 days.

"That changed the entire concept of sea basing," Work said.

A sea base notionally would include a squadron of about 14 ships located 25 miles offshore. It would need to support two brigades within 10 to 14 days of a commander's order. Each sea base would be home to 14,500 people and carry 1,886 major pieces of equipment, said the director of Navy material readiness and logistics, Vice Adm. Justin McCarthy.

The cornerstone of the sea base will be a new cargo ship that is called the Maritime Pre-positioning Force Future or MPF(F).

Each MPF(F) squadron would be composed of three amphibious assault ships, three roll-on/roll-off cargo ships, three dry cargo carriers, three mobile landing platforms and two older container ships.

The push for sea basing resulted from Turkey's denial of access to its ports and bases in 2003 for coalition forces to mount a northern front for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In a presentation to an industry conference in Panama City, Fla., the director of the Navy's expeditionary warfare division, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Gordon Nash, pointed out that the U.S. military has had access to more than 170 overseas bases since 1945. But that number has dwindled to 26.

Sea basing will not only help solve the access issue, said proponents of the plan, but it will bring speed, allowing services to assemble forces, such as a Marine expeditionary brigade, in about half the time it takes now.

"Either way you sight it, it's a significant improvement of where we are today," Nash said.

But Work disagrees. The Navy is capable of landing a Marine expeditionary brigade within 28 days using amphibious ships right now, he said. "Describe a scenario in which 10 days would make a difference in the global war on terrorism. I can't think of...