Joint Doctrine for Amphibious Operations - Historic Naval Ships ...

Chapter XII• Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC)Launch Area (CLA). CLAs are locatedin the transport area and sea echelon area.The CLA (the sea component) andcushion landing zone (CLZ) (the beachcomponent) are connected by transitlanes.• Control Ship Stations. Stationsassigned to control ships for controllingthe ship-to-shore movement. Thesestations need not be on the line ofdeparture (LOD), and may be assignedas underway sectors to avoid a shorebasedthreat. Control ship stations mayeven be located OTH.• AAV Launch Area. Areas located nearand to seaward of the LOD to whichlanding ships proceed to launch AAVs.• Causeway Operation Area. Causewayoperating areas, which include causewaylaunching areas, are normally on the flankof boat lanes and include both a sea andbeach component. These areas are usedfor causeway launching, placement, andanchoring.• FSA. A maneuver area or exact locationassigned to fire support ships from whichsurface fire support is delivered.9. Regulating Pointsa. A regulating point is an anchorage,port, or ocean area to which AE, AFOE,and follow-up transport ships proceed ona schedule and are normally controlled bythe CATF until needed in the transportarea for unloading. It also serves as arendezvous point to which ships proceed whenempty to await makeup of a convoy ormovement group for movement toward basesoutside the operational area.b. The passage of designated movementgroups may be interrupted by stopping atXII-8regulating points where they wait until calledforward to the landing area by the CATF. Inthis manner, congestion of ships in transportareas off assault beaches can be reduced. Thiscontributes greatly to passive defense againstNBC attack.10. Geographic ReferencePointsA complete system of geographic referencepoints for the operational area andsurrounding ocean area should be formulatedduring planning. The points may be used toindicate routes (particularly where thedirection of the routes changes), to depict theshape and location of the areas discussedabove, and for certain locations not related toareas or routes. Reference points will beencoded and defined by exact latitude andlongitude.11. SecurityIn formulating plans for movement to theoperational area, sea routes and rendezvouspoints must be carefully selected. Sea routesthrough mineable waters, or close to enemyshore installations from which the enemy cancarry out air, surface, or subsurface attacks,are to be avoided if possible. To minimizeprobability of detection, routes will be plannedto avoid known or probable areas of enemysurveillance. Flexibility must be given inallocation of transit time to permit evasivecourses to be steered by movement groups ifit becomes necessary to avoid surface orsubsurface threats.12. Protective MeasuresThe LF must arrive in the landing areawithout critical reduction of its combat power.Measures necessary for protection of themovement groups making a passage at seainclude all those taken by any ATForganization operating at sea.JP 3-02