There’s a new addition to the fleet of maritime vessels serving the Marine Corps in the Pacific, and its name is Matilda.
Matilda 1, a specialized stern landing vessel that can transport troops from ship to shore or from beachhead to beachhead, is notable for its shallow draft, allowing it to navigate littoral waters the way few other vessels its size can. But it’s also different in how the Marine Corps acquired it for use.
The 240-foot boat was designed by the Australian firm Seatransport and constructed by Indonesian builder Karimun Anugrah Sejati. It became operational earlier this year and was made available to the Marine Corps via a three-year charter agreement with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, managed by the firm MariGuard LLC.
The charter agreement, the second of its kind undertaken by the Warfighting Lab since 2021, allows the service to experiment with its stand-in forces concept that envisions more Marines island-hopping in the Pacific and operating from remote and austere beaches. And the Corps is able to do so without having to invest heavily in in-house shipbuilding or even make an outright purchase of a commercial vessel.
The charter agreement “allows us to move a lot quicker,” Maj. Brandon Griffith, who leads Logistics, Science and Technology at the Warfighting Lab, told Marine Corps Times. “That’s part of what we’re looking at, is the viability of that approach.”
Matilda 1 will “bridge the gap” as the Navy develops its Medium Landing Ship (LSM) program, a ship class intended to move Marines and their equipment to remote beaches. The LSM has already been christened the McClung class, after Marine Maj. Megan McClung, who was killed during a deployment to Iraq. Ultimately, between 18 and 35 ships are planned for the class. But while the first ship has been ordered, construction has yet to begin.
According to Warfighting Lab releases, the Matilda 1 is named in honor of the partnership between the Marines and the Australian Army dating to World War II.
“After the pivotal Battle of Guadalcanal, the 1st Marine Division adopted the Australian folk song ‘Waltzing Matilda’ as an unofficial anthem,” lab officials said. “The name MATILDA 1 pays tribute to this shared legacy of mutual defense in the Pacific.”
The chartering of Matilda 1 follows a similar charter agreement with the HOS Resolution, an offshore supply vessel that helped shape LSM concepts and design in the Pacific between 2021 and 2024. Griffith noted that the older converted vessel — with ramps added for onload and offload — wasn’t designed for the mission the way Matilda 1 was.
“It was kind of our first, you know, dip in the toe in the water of this type of craft,” Griffith said.
And it’s likely these kinds of charter arrangements will continue as the Corps presses forward with experimentation and shaping its future maritime mission.
“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.”
While Matilda’s lease period only started in June, it has already proven several key capabilities. In collaboration with the Australian military, it’s been operating in and out of Darwin, Australia, demonstrating an ability to land on a 1:40 beach gradient, classified as a moderate to gentle slope — a shallow beach that most larger vessels struggle to land on.
It will soon travel to Okinawa for exercises with III Marine Expeditionary Force, where its capacity, range and stability will be use-tested, among other things.
The vessel has a stated range of 4,000 nautical miles, a capacity of 84 shipping containers and the ability to handle relatively rough sea states thanks to its V-shaped hull.
“Almost all amphibious vessel designs are incapable of long-distance offshore voyages,” Stuart Ballantyne, CEO of Seatransport, told the news outlet 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.”
Amid the Navy’s continuing efforts to invest in the landing vessels, the performance of Matilda 1 has been encouraging as the Corps grapples with a cost it finds acceptable.
“It’s kind of the best of both worlds, if you will, and has proven out pretty well so far,” Griffith said.