The Landing Ship Medium Mk II was an amphibious warfare ship

Amphibious warfare ship

Amphibious warfare ship, often shortened to amphibs or phibs and popularly known as gator freighters, denotes a range of classes of warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault...

 developed for the Australian Army

Australian Army

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

 in the late 1960s. The Army and Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN) were unable to reach agreement on the ship's specifications and the project was cancelled in the early 1970s.

History

In the late 1960s the Australian Army saw a need to replace its four World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

-era Landing Ship Medium (LSM) which had been purchased from the United States in 1959. In response to this requirement, the firm Burness Corlett and Partners and Australian Shipbuilding Board drew up plans for a ship which was larger than the LSM and was capable of carrying a greater quantity of cargo. The resulting design included three engines and a long slim hull, and later versions of the plans included a helicopter pad

Helipad

Helipad is a common abbreviation for helicopter landing pad, a landing area for helicopters. While helicopters are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard surface away from obstacles where a helicopter can safely...

. The ship would be capable of embarking tanks in an enclosed tank deck or on the upper deck with other cargo, and specialised storage areas would be included for refrigerated, explosive and flammable supplies.

The Army and RAN disagreed on aspects of the Landing Ship Medium Mk II's design. Unlike other contemporary designs, it was planned that the ship would not carry smaller landing craft, but rather discharge her cargo via a ramp fitted to her bow. While the Army wanted the ship to have a bow door to enable her to be beached, the navy preferred a fully sealed bow so that she could make 20 knots (39.2 km/h) and sail in convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

s. These differing views were not resolved and design team also experienced problems meeting the Army's requirements.

As a result of the difficulties with the project, the Landing Ship Medium Mk II was cancelled in the early 1970s. Instead the Army ordered eight Balikpapan class landing craft heavy to replace the LSMs. Only the first of these ships actually served with the Army, however, as responsibility for seagoing ships was transferred to the RAN shortly after she entered service.