1.0. INTRODUCTION 
This is a report of investigation into the feasibility of floating 
bases as an alternative to diminishing United States foreign basing 
assets. The Modularized Ocean Basing System (MOBS) platform is the 
central concept in an integrated scheme for future forward basing 
infrastructure. The investigation is structured within the context of a 
long range national security strategy of "Discriminate Deterrence," 
circa year 2000, as set forth by the President's Commission on Inte- 
grated Long Term Strategy (CILTS). The study provides a hypothetical 
comparison of the integrity of MOBS to that of an alternative support 
structure normally reliant on fixed land bases to which access is denied 
in a typical Third World scenario. 
The Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory (NCEL), Port Hueneme and the 
National Security Affairs Department (NSAD) of the Naval Postgraduate 
School, Monterey, are joint participants in this investigation. NCEL 
and NSAD/NPS recognize the potential for significant benefits to the 
Department of Defense and the Navy by combining the unique assets and 
complementary capabilities of the Laboratory and the School in this and 
other studies. 
1.1. Background 
The President's Commission On Integrated Long-Term Strategy 
(CILTS), in its report of January 1988, Discriminate Deterrence 
(Appendix E, Item 6), recognizes our diminishing ability to gain agree- 
ment for timely access, including bases, to areas threatened by Soviet 
aggression. The CILTS report emphasizes the continued need for bases to 
deter or defeat aggressors at distant points overseas. 
Accepting the assumptions of the CILTS report, the Chief of Naval 
Operations (CNO) directed the Center for Naval Warfare Studies, Naval 
