The Marines need to invest in small boats for a big payoff

[rangerrebew]

The Marines need to invest in small boats for a big payoff
In this op-ed, Maj. Corey Jeske argues that the lack of investment in small boats is a liability for the Marine Corps in the Indo-Pacific.

By   Maj. Corey Jeske
on May 27, 2025 at 1:18 PM
 
US Marines with Amphibious Raids, Expeditionary Operations Training Group, and Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, transport to shore during helocast training at Kin Blue Training Center, Okinawa, Japan, Oct. 30, 2024. (US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Gerardo Mendez)

It’s 2027. A Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) is positioned deep in the First Island Chain, ready to support Joint Force operations in a contested Indo-Pacific. But something is wrong. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ships, unmanned vessels, and maritime militia move confidently through key chokepoints, exploiting gaps in our coverage. The MLR is stuck, tethered to terrain, short on mobility, and unable to contest the maritime space it was designed to dominate.

It’s not a failure of strategy. It’s a failure of mobility. It’s a failure of imagination. And most critically, it’s a failure to invest in small boats.

As the Marine Corps modernizes to meet the demands of great power competition, it cannot ignore one of the most cost-effective, adaptable tools in the naval arsenal: small boats, defined as 65 feet or less in length. These vessels, manned and unmanned, legacy and next-gen, are the connective tissue between EABO theory and execution. Without them, the MLR will be operationally brittle and strategically incomplete.

The Marine Corps has made significant strides toward modernizing the force. It has embraced distributed operations, invested in long-range fires, and deployed MLRs in forward theaters. It has also been committed to platforms like the Medium Landing Ship (LSM), Multi-Mission Reconnaissance Craft (MMRC), and Long-Range Unmanned Surface Vessel (LRUSV). These are important assets — but they’re not enough.

https://breakingdefense.com/2025/05/the-marines-need-to-invest-in-small-boats-for-a-big-payoff/

[DefiantMassRINO]

... they did build Littoral Combat Ships (Little Crappy Ships) for that purpose, but they sucked.

How about the ol' PT Boat?  Could JFK and Commander McHale be wrong?



... or Sea Lion or Alligator stealth boats?

SEALION and Alligator stealth boats
http://www.hisutton.com/SEALION%20and%20Alligator%20stealth%20boats.html

Why do the Marines need to re-invent their own wheel?

NAVY Procurement system is broken.

[Smokin Joe]

I have often brought up the PT boats in discussions of the LCS. The 70' long boats were large enough for ocean travel, and wreaked havoc among the Japanese forces in the island hopping campaign, especially in the SW Pacific and the Philippines.

Relatively small, agile, but well armed, with shallow enough draft to get in and out of difficult places, they made a difference.

PBRs, Swift Boats, all worked on the same concept in riverine situations in VietNam. 

While the concept could use some updating, basically, it is sound. Couple those with resupply tenders removed from the points of contact, and even with drones, and they could be a force multiplier as well as means to enhance mobility.