Why an LPD is already close to a drone mothership

Should a drone mothership start from an LPD or require a clean-sheet design?

An LPD is already an excellent base; most clean-sheet proposals recreate its dock, flight, cargo, command, and accommodation functions.

An LPD provides a useful starting point because it already has a dock, a large landing area, and substantial internal space. The proposed mothership requirements include heavy cranes, cargo and container capacity, aerial-drone hangars, and launch and recovery facilities. Operators and maintainers also need accommodation, while the whole force requires command facilities and some self-defense armament. Taken together, those requirements closely resemble an amphibious transport dock. Expanding the aviation facilities points toward an LHD, with the Chinese electromagnetic-catapult-equipped amphibious ship used as a comparison. The discussion questions the need to invent a completely new docking system merely because the craft using it are uncrewed.