As armed cargo ships approached closer to the shore, they would come under increased fire from defenders. The high-velocity kinetic energy rounds of tank guns would likely have little effect on a cargo ship. Inevitably though, the tanks and guns themselves would be vulnerable to anti-tank weapons even if the ship is not. Shaped-charge HEAT rounds fired from tanks, recoilless rifles, and ATGMs would also have limited utility against a cargo ship, particularly if vital components such as engines and controls were hardened.

There are many historical examples of ships under fire from shore based weapons. During the US-Vietnam Conflict, riverine operations routinely put ocean-going ships under fire from anti-tank weapons. In one well-documented case a US Landing Ship, Tank (LST) came under intense machine-gun and recoilless rifle fire. Nine hits from recoilless rifles were suffered in rapid sucession, but the damage suffered to the ship was not extreme [16].

As a further example of the survivability of amphibious ships, during World War Two only 26 of 1,051 LSTs were lost to enemy action [2]. Despite their involvement at Normandy and many bloody landings in the Pacific, few of these 26 were lost to enemy shore defenses.

Just the sight of a sandbagged containership steering at the beach with tanks and guns on the deck blazing away would certainly attract a large proportion of fire from the shore. This would have the effect of drawing fire away from more vulnerable amphibians, hovercraft, and landing craft. Thus, the presence of only a few armed cargo ships in an amphibious assault might enable the survival of other amphibious forces until they reached the shore.

Once run aground near the beach, an armed cargo ship offers many options to an attacking force. Tanks and guns chained to the decks could offer effective direct fire support to attackers. Since manpower is a plentiful resource to the PLA, one would expect any ship to be filled with infantry ready to rush the beach as soon as the ship grounded. If they were placed in the center and rear of the hull, armored and sandbagged, they could expect good survivability until the ship hit the beach. Discounting the armor value of the hull, it still is a source of concealment that would otherwise not be available on a fire swept beachhead. Whether by its destruction or by intention, a ship on the beach could also offer considerable smoke concealment to attackers. A substantial amount of smoke-producing devices could be brought ashore by armed cargo ships.

Summary