Morale-boosting artwork is something that we have looked at before across the U.S. military, but the host for such artwork on this occasion is something a little more unusual — one of the Navy’s impressive Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft. An example of the amphibious craft appeared recently with the face of Batman’s iconic opponent the Joker rendered in the style of how the late Heath Ledger famously portrayed him in the 2008 film The Dark Knight.
The video in question was published on X this week by U.S. Fleet Forces Command and it shows an LCAC operated by Assault Craft Unit 4 as it approaches the well deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1), one of the nine ‘Gator Navy’ flattops currently in service with the U.S. Navy. The video was taken in the Mediterranean, back on July 13 of this year.
As the hovercraft enters the well deck we get a good view of the twin Joker renderings, which are applied on the LCAC’s ‘bow thrusters,’ one of which projects up from each side of the hovercraft.
A limited number of LCACs are apparently adorned with their own similar paint jobs, similar to nose art on aircraft. Examples, seen below, appear to show a combination of caricatures and slogans, as well as flamboyant unit insignia.
In general, the Joker is a popular motif in unofficial U.S. military artwork, including the following example, where it adorned the nose of an F-15E Strike Eagle on its return to RAF Lakenheath, England, after a six-month rotation at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
Artworks applied to U.S. military assets — whether combat jets, tanks, artillery, or whatever else — have a long tradition, helping boost morale and build esprit de corps. Within the Navy specifically, there are examples of named and specially painted deck guns, as well as the eye-catching schemes applied to squadron aircraft.
At this point, it’s worth returning to the LCAC and specifically looking in a little more detail at how the bow thrusters work, and the part they play in the hovercraft’s relatively complex propulsion and control system.
The powerplant of the LCAC comprises four Allied Signal TF40 marine gas turbines, two on each side of the craft. These generate some 16,000 horsepower and are combined with a pair of Solar T62 gas turbine auxiliary power units (APU), with an integrated transmission. The propulsion arrangement provides the hovercraft with thrust, lift, and directional control.
While the APUs deliver power for starting the main engines and shipboard AC power for running other systems, the TF40 gas turbines are used to drive the lift fans as well as the relatively huge pair of shrouded propellers at the rear of the LCAC that operate in much the same way as the rudders on a boat.
The hovercraft is also equipped with the aforementioned pair of bow thrusters that are used to effect maneuver control, being fed part of the thrust generated by the lift fans, which are otherwise responsible for inflating the airbag cushion on which the hovercraft ‘rides’ or ‘flies’ on.
Using the swiveling bow thrusters, the operator can turn the craft and make relatively fine movements in a confined space — like when docking and undocking the LCAC in the well deck. This is an important consideration bearing in mind the fact that the LCAC is roughly 47 feet wide and the well deck on the Wasp class is around 50 feet wide.
Pumping out enough force to maneuver an LCAC weighing more than 100 tons unloaded, rising to close to 200 tons with a full load, the bow thrusters obviously pose a potential safety hazard to personnel and materiel in the vicinity. They can also rotate a full 360 degrees. For this reason, their exhausts sometimes have warning signs applied on them. In this case, however, the grinning face of the Joker certainly ensures that they are not going to be overlooked.
It’s unclear how many of the Navy’s roughly 90 LCACs wear similar artwork, or have in the past, but it’s worth noting that the service is currently working to replace these 1980s-vintage hovercraft with similar, but more capable Ship-to-Shore Connectors (SSC).
“The Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) is a high-speed, over-the-beach, fully amphibious landing craft capable of carrying a 60-75 ton payload,” according to the Navy’s official fact sheet on the hovercraft. That payload can include various kinds of vehicles, including cargo trucks, which can drive right onto the beach or onto a dispersal area after the LCAC arrives.
“Air cushion technology allows this vehicle to reach more than 70 percent of the world’s coastline, while only about 15 percent of that coastline is accessible by conventional landing craft,” the Navy’s fact sheet adds, highlighting the particular ability of these hovercraft to arrive in beach areas that might otherwise be inaccessible — again, the bow thrusters can be especially useful in these kinds of operations.
In terms of specifications, the LCAC has a top speed of 40 knots and a range up of to 200 miles while traveling at 35 knots with a 50-ton payload.
Hovercraft, of all kinds, have a unique ability to cross very shallow water and conduct operations on soft ground, such as beaches, marshes and swamps, as well as in open water. Their ability to access areas that may be inaccessible to other boats, and to access totally unimproved beaches before rapidly delivering massive loads ashore, is very much at the center of their value to the U.S. military.
The LCAC’s high speed and ‘over the beach’ mobility also make it relevant to various other missions beyond amphibious assault, especially humanitarian ones, as we have discussed in the past.
In use since 1986, the LCAC is now showing its age somewhat, although a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) began in 2001, providing a major structural overhaul, improved corrosion resistance, upgraded engines for more reliable operation in very hot weather, and improved communications, navigation, and other mission systems.
The SLEP improvements leave the LCACs in a good place, at least until they are replaced by the SSC, a newer air cushion craft that can also accommodate larger loads than its predecessor.
The Navy expects the SSC program to cost $4 billion for 73 of the new hovercraft, and the first of these craft was delivered in 2020. Notably, while the new craft also has bow thrusters, the area available to apply an artwork is much more restricted than on the LCAC.
Until the LCAC is finally withdrawn from U.S. Navy service, we will be watching closely to see if any more comic book villains — or artwork of other kinds — appear on the venerable hovercraft’s bow thrusters.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com