The Marine Corps has added a specialized vessel named Matilda 1 to its growing Pacific toolkit, giving Marines another way to move personnel and equipment through shallow coastal waters.
The ship also represents a faster and potentially cheaper model for testing maritime capabilities without waiting years for a traditional acquisition program.
Matilda 1 is a 240 foot stern landing vessel capable of carrying troops from ships to shore or between remote beachheads.
Its shallow draft allows it to operate in littoral areas that many larger vessels cannot reach, an increasingly important capability as the Corps prepares for dispersed operations across the Pacific.
Australian company Seatransport designed the vessel, while Indonesian builder Karimun Anugrah Sejati handled construction.
Matilda 1 became operational earlier this year and is available to the Marine Corps through a three year charter with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, managed by MariGuard LLC.
The arrangement is the second commercial vessel charter pursued by the Warfighting Lab since 2021.
It allows the Corps to examine its stand in forces concept without immediately pouring taxpayer dollars into an outright purchase or another lengthy government shipbuilding effort.
The charter “allows us to move a lot quicker,” Maj. Brandon Griffith, who leads Logistics, Science and Technology at the Warfighting Lab, said.
“That’s part of what we’re looking at, is the viability of that approach.”
Speed matters because the Navy’s Medium Landing Ship program remains under development while Marines need practical options now.
Matilda 1 is expected to “bridge the gap” until the planned vessels arrive, giving commanders a real platform for experimentation instead of another stack of briefing slides.
The Medium Landing Ship has been designated the McClung class in honor of Marine Maj. Megan McClung, who was killed while deployed to Iraq.
The Navy plans to acquire between 18 and 35 ships, but although the first vessel has been ordered, actual construction has not started.
Matilda 1 also carries a name rooted in the longstanding military relationship between the United States and Australia.
“After the pivotal Battle of Guadalcanal, the 1st Marine Division adopted the Australian folk song ‘Waltzing Matilda’ as an unofficial anthem,” Warfighting Lab officials said.
“The name MATILDA 1 pays tribute to this shared legacy of mutual defense in the Pacific,” the officials added.
That heritage fits a vessel already working closely with Australian forces while preparing Marines for the unforgiving distances and geography of the region.
The Corps previously chartered the HOS Resolution, an offshore supply vessel used from 2021 through 2024 to help refine Medium Landing Ship concepts and designs.
Unlike Matilda 1, that older vessel required ramps for loading and unloading because it had not been purpose built for the mission.
“It was kind of our first, you know, dip in the toe in the water of this type of craft,” Griffith said.
Matilda 1 now gives the Warfighting Lab a more specialized platform for determining what works before the government commits to bigger bills and permanent fleets.
Additional commercial charters are likely as the Marine Corps expands experimentation beyond the Pacific.
“This is a Pacific-focused charter now, but it’s a concept that we’re definitely looking to expand across the globe, across all the component commands,” Griffith said.
“A lot of what we try to do, experimentation-wise, may focus on one theater, but that doesn’t mean the lessons learned aren’t applicable across the board,” Griffith continued.
That approach could help the Corps adapt commercial designs for different commands while avoiding the usual bureaucratic crawl.
Although Matilda 1 began its lease period only in June, it has already demonstrated important capabilities alongside the Australian military near Darwin.
The vessel successfully landed on a 1:40 beach gradient, considered a moderate to gentle slope that would present serious problems for many conventional ships.
Matilda 1 is expected to travel next to Okinawa for exercises with III Marine Expeditionary Force.
Marines will test the vessel’s capacity, range, stability and operational value under conditions more closely resembling a potential Western Pacific mission.
The vessel has a reported range of 4,000 nautical miles and room for 84 shipping containers.
Its V shaped hull is also designed to handle rougher seas, offering a useful blend of beach access, cargo capacity and offshore endurance.
“Almost all amphibious vessel designs are incapable of long-distance offshore voyages,” Seatransport CEO Stuart Ballantyne told Baird Maritime in March.
“This vessel can achieve 85% of her designed speed in head sea state five and predominant waves in standard tradewind areas.”
For a Marine Corps preparing to operate from scattered islands and austere beaches, that combination could prove highly valuable.
Instead of waiting on slow procurement machinery to produce every answer, the charter lets Marines test available equipment, identify shortcomings and send lessons directly into future requirements.
The early performance has encouraged officials searching for an acceptable balance between capability and cost.
“It’s kind of the best of both worlds, if you will, and has proven out pretty well so far,” Griffith said.
