Feature 2 | AMPHIBIOUS SHIPS
Fast LCT gains a foothold on the beach
UK naval architecture and systems engineering group BMT Defence
Services has outlined details of a new Landing Craft Tank (LCT) concept
designed to carry up to 200tonnes of payload at speeds much higher than
conventional displacement monohull designs.
he company claims that
innovative design features
Tincorporated into its proposed
Caimen-200 LCT - accorded the in-house
designation DS703 - enable the vessel
to overcome some of the traditional
challenges of landing craft design. Th ese
novel features include a low-resistance
hullform and an ‘active’ bow ramp to
deliver an excellent balance of speed and
beached stability.
Market analysis undertaken by BMT
suggests a significant future market in
South America, Southeast Asia and Novel features incorporated into Caimen-200 include a low-resistance hullform and an
the Middle East for a flexible and ‘active’ bow ramp to deliver an excellent balance of speed and beached stability. (BMT
cost-effective LCT able to support Defence Services/DefenceImaging.com).
amphibious, logistic support and civil
relief missions. It also believes that
any such design must be simple to in steel and has a deep displacement of the rate of logistics fl ow through high
construct given that many potential 840tonnes. Th e payload deck area covers transit speed, while at the same time
customers will stipulate in-country 400m
2
and allows for a combination of maintaining safety and stability on the
build to take advantage of indigenous vehicles (equivalent to three main battle beach,” said Nick Noel-Johnson, BMT
shipbuilding facilities. tanks, eight multi-purpose four-wheel project manager and lead naval architect
To address this need, BMT has developed drive trucks or 30 jeeps), equipment and for the project. “My team was faced with
Caimen-200 as an in-house InSpira personnel (up to 260) to a maximum of conflicting requirements: to produce
development project, and the fi rst of a 200tonnes. something able to reach a challenging
planned family of amphibious watercraft It is in the hullform itself and the bow design speed yet able to beach safely.
designs across a range of displacements. ramp mechanism that BMT has deviated We could use a sleeker hull for greater
This builds on the company’s existing from conventional landing craft design. speed by re-thinking how she will behave
proficiency in the design and support LCTs typically exhibit a box-like, when beached.”
of landing craft, including post-design shallow draft skiff -type hullform. While “To increase speed, Caimen-200 adopts
services support to the UK Ministry of inefficient in powering and limited a more effi cient hullform introducing a
Defence’s (MoD’s) Boats and Sea Survival in speed (typically 9-10knots), this measure of V-shaping in the forebody,
Integrated Project Team. arrangement has endured because of the tapering back to the midships area,
BMT has also written an LCU structural design tyranny imposed by the need to to optimise flow characteristics. The
assessment guide for the MoD, applying beach in shallow water, and then ensure hullform geometry is based on empirical
its knowledge to advise how the structure stability once on the beach. hullforms tested by sister company BMT
of a landing craft should be assessed in In order to achieve transit speeds SeaTech, so we already have confi dence
order to develop confi dence that it will signifi cantly higher than legacy landing in its performance.”
meet all requirements through life. craft, Caimen-200 combines a more These improved hydrodynamic
hydrodynamically efficient hullform, characteristics, together with a direct
Design outline together with a novel bow ramp diesel drive propulsion machinery
At 68.5m in length, with a breadth arrangement that ensures vessel stability arrangement (baselined on twin
(waterline) of 10m, and a draft of 2.3m, once beached. 2465kW-rated MTU 16V 4000 M71
the Caimen-200 design is constructed “Our design objective was to increase engines driving fi xed-pitch propellers on
26 Warship Technology October 2008
WT_Oct08_p22+23+26+27.indd Sec2:26 10/10/08 4:38:56 PM
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