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

Chapter Iconcentrate forces and make them susceptibleto fires, or disperse forces and make themsusceptible to destruction. The enemy cannever be certain that its response to theamphibious threat will be effective; thusuncertainties are induced into the enemy’sdecision making process that can be exploitedin a number of ways.2. ApplicationsAmphibious operations can be used inmany ways to support the JFC’s campaign oroperation plan. Conducted alone, or inconjunction with other military operations,they can be designed to:a. Achieve campaign objectives in oneswift stroke by capitalizing on surprise andsimultaneous execution of supportingoperations to strike directly at enemy criticalvulnerabilities and decisive points in order todefeat operational or tactical centers of gravity(COGs).b. Comprise the initial phase of acampaign or major operation where theobjective is to establish a military lodgmentto support subsequent phases.c. Serve as a supporting operation in acampaign in order to deny use of an area orfacilities to the enemy, or to fix enemy forcesand attention in support of other combatoperations.d. Support military operations otherthan war (MOOTW) in order to deter war,resolve conflict, promote peace and stability,and support civil authorities in response todomestic crises.3. Types of AmphibiousOperationsAmphibious operations can take placeacross the range of military operations, fromoperations other than war to a major theaterI-2war. They can generally be broken down intofive major types: assaults, withdrawals,demonstrations, raids, and other amphibiousoperations.a. Amphibious Assault. An amphibiousassault involves the establishment of an LFon a hostile or potentially hostile shore. Theorganic capabilities of amphibious forces,including fire support, logistics, and mobility,allow the United States to gain access to acrisis area by forcible entry. Forcible entryoperations can be accomplished throughamphibious operations, airborne operations,air assault operations, or a combination of anyor all of these forcible entry techniques. Ifthe JFC’s decision is to use a combinationof forcible entry techniques to seize alodgment, the JFC must further decide,based on maritime factors and mission,enemy, terrain and weather, troops andsupport available, time available analysis,whether to conduct the forcible entries asconcurrent or integrated. Concurrentforcible entry operations occur when acombination of amphibious, airborne, and/or air assault forcible entry operations areconducted simultaneously, but as distinctoperations with separate operational areasand objectives. Integrated forcible entryoperations result when amphibious, airborne,and/or air assault forcible entries are conductedsimultaneously within the same operationalarea and with objectives that are mutuallysupporting.Refer to Joint Publication (JP) 3-18, JointDoctrine for Forcible Entry Operations, formore information.b. An amphibious withdrawal is theextraction of forces by sea in ships or craftfrom a hostile or potentially hostile shore.c. An amphibious demonstration is ashow of force conducted to deceive with theexpectation of deluding the enemy into acourse of action (COA) unfavorable to it.JP 3-02