Incoming plebes participate in the Oath of Office Ceremony during induction day (I-day) 2017 at the U.S. Naval Academy. US Navy Photo
Keeping the Navy’s new officer pipeline open while mitigating COVID-19 risks means altering, delaying or even skipping some of the long-held traditions considered rites of passage for midshipmen.
The Military Sealift Command maritime prepositioning ship USNS Sgt. William R. Button (T-AK 3012) is moored off the coast of Latvia for the Saber Strike 17 Maritime Prepositioning Force offload operations on May, 25, 2017. US Navy photo.
Civilian mariners are frustrated with stay-on-ship measures put in place to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks and their unions have filed a formal grievance with Military Sealift Command, even as MSC has been touting the extreme care it’s taken to avoid getting its employees sick or spreading the illness to warships they resupply at sea. Read More
A crew aboard Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco’s Forward Operating Base Point Mugu MH-65 Dolphin helicopter conducts an overflight near an anchorage site off the coast of Los Angeles, Calif., on April 23, 2020. US Coast Guard Photo
More than two dozen oil tankers are parked just off the California coast, holding the equivalent of 20 percent of the global daily oil consumption, with nowhere to go. Read More
Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Kimberly Wyss, from Ventura, Calif., sanitizes a medical supply shelf aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) on March 28, 2020. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO — A day after pulling into its temporary home in the port of Los Angeles the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) Is ready to receive patients and take the pressure off local civilian hospitals inundated by the coronavirus. Read More
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at Naval Station Norfolk on March 28, 2020. US Navy Photo
USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) pushed off from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., minutes after remarks from President Donald Trump praising the whole of government effort to fight the COVID-19 effort. Read More
USNI News Graphic
These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of March 23, 2020, based on Navy and public data. In cases where a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship. Read More
USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) moors to the pier at Naval Base San Diego upon returning from Pacific Partnership 2018. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) was a hub of activity Thursday, as it took on a crew of civilian mariners and supplies ahead of deploying to assist West Coast civilian medical facilities hammered by COVID-19 cases. Read More
A fleet of military vehicles wait pier side in preparation of Exercise Saber Strike 16 in Riga, Latvia, June 4, 2016. The vehicles were transported by a British Roll-On, Roll-Off ship from Norway for the exercise. US Marine Corps photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) wants to know why the U.S. military’s surge sealift capability has yet to augment its aging fleet’s capabilities with used cargo ships. Read More
The Military Sealift Command maritime prepositioning ship USNS Sgt. William R. Button (T-AK 3012) is moored off the coast of Latvia for the Saber Strike 17 Maritime Prepositioning Force offload operations on May, 25, 2017. US Navy photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A National Maritime Strategy, expected to address the various deficiencies facing the nation’s sealift capacity, is finished and awaiting final approval, a top sealift official said last week.
A UH-60 Black Hawk is raised from Military Sealift Command’s voyage-charter, general-purpose, heavy-lift vessel MV Ocean Grand at the pier in Sattahip, Thailand, Aug. 17, during an offload of equipment that will be used during exercise Hanuman Guardian 2018.
An aging and inactive government fleet dependent on a shrinking pool of merchant mariners to get underway is how a new report describes the U.S. military’s strategic sealift capability.
