Landing ship - amphibious warfare ship

A general term for ships used exclusively to land personnel, weapons, vehicles, equipment, and supplies of land forces on coastal areas during landing operations. They are also called landing ships or amphibious warships. Landing ships with a full load displacement of 500 tons or less are called landing craft, and those larger than landing craft are called landing ships. Inspired by the Japanese Army's use of small landing craft and their mother ships before World War II, the UK and the US began research in the early stages of World War II, and from 1942 they built a large number of tank landing crafts, dock landing ships, and various medium and small landing crafts, which were used on a large scale in various landing operations in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. Except for helicopter landing ships, the prototypes of today's landing craft were mostly completed during World War II. After the war, their functions became more diverse with the introduction of helicopter landing methods, and ships with a full load displacement of over 40,000 tons appeared, making landing ships an important type of ship in modern navies.

Current major landing ships can be broadly classified according to the U.S. Navy's ship type symbols as follows:

(1) A landing craft that is anchored on the shore and landed on it. It has a landing gate and a step at the bow. Landing craft with a full load displacement of 500 tons or less are not seaworthy and are mainly used for landing on the shore from offshore ships. They are also called landing craft, and include the Landing Craft General Purpose (LCU), Landing Craft Mobile (LCM), Landing Craft for Personnel (LCPL), Landing Craft for Vehicle Personnel (LCVP), etc. In addition, from the mid-1980s, the Landing Craft Air Cushion Type (LCAC) and Landing Craft for Assault (AALC), which glide on the sea surface by using an air cushion, began to be put into practical use. An example of a landing ship larger than a landing craft is the Landing Ship Tank (LST). Due to changes in landing warfare methods since the late 1950s, landing ships other than the air-cushion type are now generally no longer used for landing warfare, and are primarily used for transport missions.

(2) Landing ships that use other means of transport to land from offshore. These include cargo landing ships (LKA) and landing transport ships (LPA), which use cranes to lower the landing craft they carry to the surface of the sea, landing dock ships (LSD), which launch landing craft from a dock on the ship, landing dock transport ships (LPD), which carry more personnel, vehicles, and equipment, aircraft carrier-type amphibious assault ships (LPH), which use helicopters to land, amphibious assault ships (general purpose) (LHA), which combine the functions of LPH and LPD to land a well-balanced force on one ship, and amphibious assault ships (multipurpose) (LHD), which carry V/STOL (vertical/short take-off and landing) aircraft and have light aircraft carrier functions. In modern landing battles, various aircraft carrier-type amphibious assault ships, landing dock ships, and landing transport ships are mainly used.

(3) Those that directly command and control the landing operation include the Landing Command Ship (LCC), which is equipped with powerful command and communications capabilities.

(4) Special warfare support craft used for special operations include the Medium Special Teams Support Craft (MSSC), Small Special Teams Support Craft (LSSC), Small Special Warfare Support Craft (SWLC), Medium Special Warfare Support Craft (SWCM), and Submarine Support Vessel (SDV).

During and for a period after World War II, ships dedicated to suppressing landing sites by fire were built, but they are no longer in use as other surface ships and aircraft are now used for this role.

[Yasuo Abe]

"Ships of the World No. 256 Special Feature: Landing Battles and Landing Ships" (1978, Kaijinsha)" ▽ "Ships of the World No. 355 Special Feature: New Landing Operation Ships" (1985, Kaijinsha) ▽ "Ships of the World No. 414 Special Feature: Amphibious Assault Ships" (1989, Kaijinsha) ▽ "Ships of the World No. 569 Special Feature: Recent Landing Ships" (2000, Kaijinsha) ▽ "Ships of the World Special Issue No. 84: Landing Ships of the World" (2009, Kaijinsha) ▽ "JPL add Assault from The Sea 1939-45; The Craft, The Landing, The Men (1976, David & Charles)" ▽ "Allied Landing Craft of World War Two (1985, Arms & Armour Press)" ▽ "Stephen Saunders Jane's Fighting Ships 2010-2011 (2010, Jane's Information Group)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

上陸作戦で陸戦部隊の人員、兵器、車両、機材、物資などを、海岸地域に揚陸するための専用艦艇の総称。上陸用艦艇、水陸両用戦艦艇ともいう。揚陸艦艇のうち、満載排水量500トン以下のものを揚陸艇、揚陸艇より大型のものを揚陸艦とよぶ。第二次世界大戦前に日本陸軍が小型揚陸艇とその母艦となる揚陸艦を装備、使用したのに刺激され、第二次世界大戦初期にイギリス、アメリカが研究を始め、1942年から戦車揚陸艦艇、ドック型揚陸艦、中・小型の各種揚陸艇などを大量建造し、北アフリカ、ヨーロッパ、太平洋での諸上陸作戦で大規模に使用した。ヘリコプター揚陸方式の艦を除き、今日の各種揚陸艦艇の原型は、おおむね第二次世界大戦中に完成している。戦後、ヘリコプターによる揚陸方式の実用化などにより、その機能は多様化するとともに、満載排水量が4万トンを超す艦も出現し、揚陸艦艇は現代の海軍において重要な艦種となっている。

　現在の主要な揚陸艦艇は、アメリカ海軍の艦種類別記号に従い、次のように大別される。

(1)海岸に擱坐(かくざ)接岸（のりあげる）して揚陸するもの　艦首に揚陸用の門扉と踏み板をもつ。満載排水量500トン以下の揚陸艇は、航洋性がなく、おもに沖合いの艦から海岸への揚陸に使われ、上陸用舟艇ともいい、汎用(はんよう)揚陸艇（LCU）、機動揚陸艇（LCM）、人員揚陸艇（LCPL）、車両人員揚陸艇（LCVP）などがある。また1980年代中ごろから、エアクッションにより海面を滑走して陸上にあがるエアクッション型揚陸艇（LCAC）や強襲揚陸艇（AALC）が、実用化され始めた。なお、揚陸艇より大型の揚陸艦には、戦車揚陸艦（LST）がある。エアクッション型以外の擱坐接岸型揚陸艦艇は、1950年代後半以降の揚陸戦様式の変化により、現在ではおおむね揚陸戦には供用されず、主として輸送任務に用いられている。

(2)上陸地点の沖合いからほかの輸送手段により揚陸するもの　搭載している揚陸艇をクレーンなどで海面に降ろし揚陸する貨物揚陸艦（LKA）・揚陸輸送艦（LPA）、艦に設けたドックから揚陸艇を発進させるドック型揚陸艦（LSD）、さらに人員、車両、機材などの搭載量を増したドック型揚陸輸送艦（LPD）、ヘリコプターで揚陸を行う航空母艦型式の強襲揚陸艦（LPH）、LPHとLPDの機能を兼備し一つの艦で均整のとれた兵力を揚陸する強襲揚陸艦（汎用）（LHA）、V/STOL(ブイストール)機（垂直・短距離離着陸機）を併載し軽空母的機能も備えた強襲揚陸艦（多目的）（LHD）などがある。現代の揚陸戦では航空母艦型式の各種強襲揚陸艦とドック型揚陸艦、揚陸輸送艦が主用されている。

(3)直接、上陸作戦の指揮・統制を行うもの　強力な指揮通信能力を備えた揚陸指揮艦（LCC）がある。

(4)特殊作戦に用いる特殊戦支援艇　中型特殊チーム支援艇（MSSC）、小型特殊チーム支援艇（LSSC）、小型特殊戦支援艇（SWLC）、中型特殊戦支援艇（SWCM）、潜水員支援艇（SDV）などがある。

　なお、第二次世界大戦中および戦後の一時期、上陸地点を火力制圧する専用艦がつくられたが、現在は他の水上艦艇や航空機がこの任務にあたるため、使われていない。

［阿部安雄］

『『世界の艦船第256号　特集　揚陸戦と揚陸艦艇』（1978・海人社）』▽『『世界の艦船第355号　特集　新しい揚陸作戦艦艇』（1985・海人社）』▽『『世界の艦船第414号　特集　強襲揚陸艦』（1989・海人社）』▽『『世界の艦船第569号　特集　最近の揚陸艦』（2000・海人社）』▽『『世界の艦船増刊第84集　世界の揚陸艦』（2009・海人社）』▽『J.P.LaddAssault from The Sea 1939-45 ; The Craft, The Landing, The Men（1976, David & Charles）』▽『Allied Landing Craft of World War Two（1985, Arms & Armour Press）』▽『Stephen SaundersJane's Fighting Ships 2010-2011（2010, Jane's Information Group）』

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