During a speech at the U.S. Naval War College in April, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates cited the value of developing a viable force of small warships that are better suited to face current threats in the littorals than vessels designed for blue-water operations.

“You don’t necessarily need a billion-dollar ship to chase down a bunch of teenaged pirates,” he told a group of Navy officers. “The size of the ship in such cases is less important than having Navy Seals on board. To carry out the missions we may face in the future—whether dealing with non-state actors at sea or near shore, or swarming speedboats—we will need numbers, speed and ability to operate in shallow waters.”

The Navy has been working on projects like the Global Fleet Station, a forward operating base at sea capable of surging military forces and humanitarian aid to shore. One example is the Africa Partnership Station, spearheaded by the USS Nashville (LPD-13), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, which ran from February to May off the west coast of Africa. This is one of the ways the Navy is trying to meet the needs of what analysts and Pentagon leaders call an “era of persistent conflict.”

The need to build up littoral or brown-water assets is an idea that has been kicking around for several years, with many in the Pentagon and elsewhere recognizing the need for the Navy to operate close to shore for counterinsurgency, policing or humanitarian missions. This need is especially acute when considering an estimate by the United Nations Conference on Environment that about half the world’s population lives within 60 km. (37 mi.) of a shoreline, and “many of the world’s poor are crowded in coastal areas.”

The Global Fleet Stations, however, are built around existing vessels, most of which were designed for blue-water service and confronting large peer threats. To have a viable presence in the littorals, and to avoid using billion-dollar ships to chase down boatloads of pirates, police offshore oil platforms and train local coast guards, the Navy will have to look beyond its current fleet to new vessels that are better suited for such missions.

These include smaller, faster and less-expensive platforms like the Joint High-Speed Vessel, M80 Stiletto, Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and the amphibious San Antonio-class Landing Platform Dock (LPD). While most of these ships bear a resemblance to the larger blue-water vessels, they have a number of design features and capabilities that increase their effectiveness in littoral operations.

The USS Freedom LCS, for example, built by Lockheed Martin, is a 3,000-ton vessel with a semiplaning steel monohull, 12-ft. draft and top speed above 45 kt. It adapts to different operational needs by changing mission modules, containers with specialized electronics and equipment that provide a virtual plug-in capability for such operations as mine countermeasures, antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and surface warfare. The ship can also carry two SH-60 Seahawk helicopters and an MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV, and launch and recover manned and unmanned boats off the side and stern.

The Navy’s second LCS, the USS Independence, built by General Dynamics and slated for delivery this fall, is different in design, but shares the same ability to carry helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and, with a 14-ft. draft, bring operations close to shore.

In the Navy’s 2010 budget request, sent to Congress in May, the service called for three more LCS (Gates wants 55 of the ships), two Lewis and Clark-class T-AKE 1 auxiliary dry cargo ships (which are key for the frequent resupply smaller ships require) and one more Joint High-Speed Vessel.

But the big question is: How will these smaller ships be used once they hit the water in large numbers? Cdr. Henry J. Hendrix put forward one idea in the April issue of Proceedings magazine. He calls for the creation of “Influence Squadrons” composed of “an amphibious mother ship (an LPD-17 or cheaper commercial ship with similar capabilities), a destroyer to provide air, surface and subsurface defensive capabilities, an LCS to extend a squadron’s reach into the brown-water environment and provide some mine-warfare capabilities, a Joint High-Speed Vessel to increase lift [capabilities], a coastal patrol ship to operate close in and an M80 Stiletto to provide speed and versatility.”