If the bumpy waters off Windward Oahu oblige, the Navy plans to sidle two ships "skin to skin" Thursday and offload tons of Marine Corps Humvees and 7-ton trucks onto a new ship designed to launch an era of rapidly deploying Marines and their equipment from far beyond the horizon and into hot war zones or disaster-hit areas that have lost their ports.

Weather conditions on Wednesday prevented the Navy from positioning its new 784-foot USNS Montford Point up against the 950-foot USNS Dahl, whose crew describes it as an enormous floating military warehouse capable of packing in 21,000 tons of howitzers, Humvees, tanks, trucks, ammunition, portable military hospitals and food and water for humanitarian relief inside six cavernous decks that run nearly bow to stern.

After the Montford Point passed its final test in October off the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in Southern California and became Navy property last month, the Navy now hopes to put the Montford Point to work Thursday, the last day of a four-day military exercise along Windward Oahu called Culebra Koa.

The name for the exercise comes from the Navy’s and Marines’ first "sea-based landings" off Puerto Rico’s Culebra island from 1935 to 1941, said Navy Lt. j.g. Clint Ramsden.

Both the Dahl and Montford Point belong to the U.S. military but are operated by civilian contractors, who also maintain all of the Marine Corps and Army hardware stored in the Dahl until they’re ready to be offloaded by Marines or soldiers.

Just packing all of that military hardware into the Dahl in the right order to be offloaded quickly in a crisis represents a mind-numbing exercise in putting all of the right pieces together.

As the Dahl sailed 11 miles off shore, its civilian chief mate, Matthew Neill, described the Navy’s new concept of pairing the Dahl with the Montford Point:

"We made our own dock," Neill said. "We can pick up, carry and offload darn near anything the U.S. military has."

Everything that was crammed inside the Dahl on Wednesday that rides on wheels — whether an Army Stryker or a Marine howitzer — is designed to be offloaded in 24 hours, Neill said.

But the Dahl also carried other equipment designed to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by war or nature.

"We’ve got bridges, we’ve got runways, we’ve got hospitals," Neill said.

Getting all of that gear onto the smaller Montford Point across open water isn’t simple.

"It’s inherently a very dangerous operation," said Navy Commodore Robert Rochford. "You’re bringing two ships skin to skin in the open ocean."

Actually, the Montford Point and Dahl would be separated by a 12-foot-wide bumper while moored together by 16 lines.

Cranes aboard the Dahl would then connect a ramp aboard the Montford Point to the Dahl to allow tons of howitzers, Humvees and other heavy equipment to be driven across the ocean to the smaller ship — while both ships bounce and bob.

The smaller Montford Point — a modified BP oil tanker — has been re-engineered with a power plant strong enough to drive both ships while they’re tethered, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Tague.

But crews aboard both ships have to continuously adjust their ships’ ballast as their weight constantly shifts.

Once aboard the Montford Point, the gear would then be loaded onto three 88-foot Landing Craft Air Cushions that can carry Marines and their equipment at a rate of 45 mph on hovercraft technology.

The Landing Craft Air Cushions can then be configured a myriad of ways, whether for fighting or for disaster relief.

Each one can carry as many as 120 combat-ready Marines and heavy equipment — or fewer noncombat-ready Marines and pallets full of food, water, blankets and hospital equipment, said Navy Lt. Eli Boddy.

Whether for aid or for battle, the idea is to allow the Marines to connect with their gear from as far away as 25 miles — or 15 miles beyond the horizon — and then bring everything onshore quickly and ready for action.

"It eliminates the need for us to establish a base onshore," Rochford said. "It’s what we call a force multiplier. It multiplies our capabilities."

In case of a battle, Rochford said, "you want to marry people with their equipment so they can reach the beach combat ready."

But whether the Dahl and Montford Point perform like they’re supposed to on Thursday, Rochford said, "all depends on the weather."