History
The idea of the MOB was first seriously considered when the United States entered Operation Desert Shield (1990-91). The U.S. was forced to request the use of allied bases, which, besides strictly military considerations, proved to be politically sensitive in the case of Saudi Arabia. With the MOB concept the U.S. could have a base anywhere in the world in as little as a month. The base as conceived would have had virtually unlimited capabilities, and most of its creators did not envision just a floating air strip, but a town-sized base.
The "Joint Mobile Offshore Base" was a MOB concept for expeditionary warfare and humanitarian and commercial operations developed in the late 1990s by McDermott International, Inc. of Arlington, Virginia. The JMOB was to be composed of five self-powered units and a one-mile long runway that could accommodate a fully loaded C-17 Globemaster III. NATO was thought to be interested in the concept at the time.
A report presented to the U.S. Congress in April 2000 identified that such a base was technologically feasible and could be built by United States industry. A further report in 2001 by the Institute for Defense Analyses concluded that the estimated US$5 billion to US$8 billion was less cost effective than alternate solutions.
Once positioned, the MOB would operate as a base for an extended period, so it would need to have port-like facilities for unloading and loading conventional container and Roll-on/roll-off ships.
Read more about this topic: Mobile Offshore Base
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“American time has stretched around the world. It has become the dominant tempo of modern history, especially of the history of Europe.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“He wrote in prison, not a History of the World, like Raleigh, but an American book which I think will live longer than that. I do not know of such words, uttered under such circumstances, and so copiously withal, in Roman or English or any history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)