VSTOL Support Ship

In the early 1970s, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Elmo Zumwalt, proposed that the US Navy build the Sea Control Ship (SCS), a small aircraft carrier equipped with helicopters and V/STOL aircraft such as the AV-8A Harrier which was intended for convoy escort operations.

[1][2] Zumwalt's successor as CNO, James L. Holloway III abandoned plans for the SCS and instead proposed a larger and faster design, the VSTOL Support Ship, or VSS.

[1][4] A third variant, the VSS III, evolved by July 1978 as a result of a requirement to protect the ship's magazines.

In order to cope with the extra weight of the armor, the ship had a new hull form with less freeboard but allowing greater speed.

As well as the ship's aircraft, two quadruple Harpoon anti-ship-missile launchers were to be mounted on the fantail, with two Phalanx Close-in weapon systems were to be fitted.