Planing landing craft

[cluttonfred]

I have heard through a few sources that well-known and creative boat designer Philp C. Bolger has been working for some time as a consultant to the U.S. Navy/Marines to design a high-speed, planing landing craft to supplement the fragile and complex "Landing Craft, Air Cushion" (LCAC).

That's all I know from my boat design contacts, I have no pics or other info, though this patent may well be related:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=kmgQAAAAEBAJ&dq=6792886

Does anyone know anything more about the Phil Bolger project?

 

[Lauge]

I have heard through a few sources that well-known and creative boat designer Philp C. Bolger has been working for some time as a consultant to the U.S. Navy/Marines to design a high-speed, planing landing craft to supplement the fragile and complex "Landing Craft, Air Cushion" (LCAC).

That's all I know from my boat design contacts, I have no pics or other info, though this patent may well be related:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=kmgQAAAAEBAJ&dq=6792886

Does anyone know anything more about the Phil Bolger project?

See e.g. http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,691.0.html

Regards,

Thomas L. Nielsen
Denmark

 

[cluttonfred]

I am still looking for info on the work by the late Philip C. Bolger (Phil Bolger & Friends, PB&F is the name of his firm) on next-generation landing craft and other work for the U.S. Navy. I found this interesting except from a letter by a U.S. Navy contact to Bolgers design partner and now widow. From the context, the letter writer may be a "Division Director at NAVSEA." Here's the relevant bit:

"I will continue to keep you informed of US Navy progress in our joint areas of interest, in particular the encouragement of a medium speed low mix lighterage, an LCU replacement new design and procurement, which has been helped and enabled by Phil Bolger and Friends’ MUTE and LCU(F) design work for us."

So, anybody have any leads on the Bolger MUTE and LCU(F) designs?

Cheers,

Matthew

 

[TomS]

Not much, but the same LCU(F) concept is referenced in the acknowledgments of this paper:

http://www.navalengineers.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/2009%20Proceedings%20Documents/AD%202009/Papers/Bosworth_Opas_Rivers_Whitford_Wetherald.pdf

Still no actual info, except a better idea of who they were working for--NAVSEA's Naval Advanced Concepts and Technology program. A letter posted on a Yahoo group devoted to Bolger's work links to a letter by the former head of NACT which provides slightly more info on the objectives of the design, but nothing significant:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bolger/message/64790

Apparently Bolger and his wife/codesigner had apparently written a paper with CDR Bosworth, but it appears that this was not published.

 

[cluttonfred]

Thanks, TomS, but you seem to have posted the same link twice.

 

[TomS]

That's what I get for posting so late at night. It's fixed now.

 

[cluttonfred]

Thanks, I am a member of that group and have seen the letter. I found an e-mail address for the author of the paper in the first link, a senior official at NAVSEA, so I wrote him to ask about getting a copy of the Bolger "NACT-sponsored study of a novel fast LCU(F) concept." We'll see what he says. Cheers, Matthew

 

[Grey Havoc]

Thanks, I am a member of that group and have seen the letter. I found an e-mail address for the author of the paper in the first link, a senior official at NAVSEA, so I wrote him to ask about getting a copy of the Bolger "NACT-sponsored study of a novel fast LCU(F) concept." We'll see what he says. Cheers, Matthew

Any luck?

 

[cluttonfred]

Yes, as a matter of fact I did receive a very pleasant and informative reply. Only portions of the report by Phil Bolger & Friends (PB&F) to NAVSEA are being released, and only to contractors specifically seeking to bid on the Navy's future LCU replacement. The gentleman did give me an overview of the design, however, and here are the main points from his reply:

The craft that they conceptualized to our notional requirements (final LCU replacement requirements have yet to be decided) was a long, thin and both bow- and stern-foldable. It could carry three main battle tanks and fit inside our typical ship well decks and land (stern-first) on a variety of beaches. It could achieve a higher speed (about 18/19 knots, vice some 11 knots) than our currently operating LCUs, but with very modest powering due long/thin and lowerable z-drive props.


The craft design and analysis has proven useful to the US Navy in several ways.
1. we were able to push the 'high/low mix' theory for Navy lighterage (high=LCAC; low=LCU)
2. we were able to encourage the initiation of an LCU replacement procurement project (which is about to commence under the leadership of PMS 377 of PEO-Ships).
3. we are currently having success in encouraging a 'modest yet affordable' speed increase
(a previous LCU replacement effort of almost a decade ago failed due to 'too high a speed' requirement, which caused both cost and 'fit in well deck' issues).
4. we have identified a dozen possibly competitive hull concepts, and the Bolger LCU(F) still seems one of the better concepts to me.
5. the idea of 'single wave landing' continues to have attraction.
6. Phil and Susanne's work has served to challenge our in-house designers with innovative and different ideas.

Neat stuff, I can't wait to see what comes out of the competition, especially if one of the contractors seeks to develop the PB&F proof-of-concept design.


Cheers,


Matthew

 

[Grey Havoc]

Neat stuff, I can't wait to see what comes out of the competition, especially if one of the contractors seeks to develop the PB&F proof-of-concept design.


Cheers,


Matthew

It would be a fitting tribute to Phil Bolger indeed.