World War II Merchant Marine recruiting poster.
The Maritime Administration’s top official warns of “a bleed-off of talent” in the merchant fleet because there are fewer ships for each year’s maritime academy graduates to serve on and even fewer chances of a long career.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) conducts a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) with the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8) on April 12, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy is struggling to find support to buy new logistics ships, even as a new study finds the Navy’s current plans to recapitalize that logistics fleet are insufficient to support distributed operations in a high-end fight against China or Russia. Read More
National Defense Reserve Fleet Suisun Bay, Calif. in 2014. US Navy
NATIONAL HARBOR. Md. – The merchant fleet that would carry the U.S. military to war is in dire need of recapitalization and might not prepared to fight its way to a conflict zone, said a panel of officials tasked with oversight of military sealift. Read More
M/V Cape Ray (T-AKR-9679). MARAD Photo
By 2022, the United States will need “70,000 new people” for the nation’s maritime fleet, but the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., and the six state maritime academies only graduate 900 per year and are at capacity, Paul Jaenichen Sr., the head of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), told the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee on Tuesday. Read More
