SAN DIEGO (May 8, 2021) – The Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary mobile base USS Miguel Keith (ESB 5) sits pierside during the ship’s commissioning ceremony. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s latest Expeditionary Sea Base ship officially entered the fleet on Saturday. Read More
Daniel Murphy, a deck cadet with United States Merchants Marine, supervises as cargo is transported into the Green Cove with equipment being sent to the Distribution Management Office Yermo, Calif., on July 6 at Naha Port in Okinawa, Japan. MSC Photo
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted why mariners – from ferry crews to masters of Triple E-class container ships – are “essential workers,” while questioning future shipbuilding and threatening the survival of smaller shipping companies, two experts in maritime commerce told USNI News. 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.
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
William Courtney, the prospective chief mate aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), communicates with his crew during a supplies onload while the ship is moored in New York in support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts. US Navy photo.
This post has been corrected to state there have been cases of COVID-19 among civilian mariners on Military Sealift Command ships. Two cases emerged on oiler USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO-195) between the Friday interview and Wednesday article publication. That ship is in Boston Ship Repair for maintenance. Two CIVMARS were infected on hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) early in its New York mission and have since recovered, but that was not disclosed by MSC during the interview. A fifth CIVMAR is known to have contracted the disease while on leave and has also recovered.
The Military Sealift Command is keeping supplies moving uninterrupted throughout the globally operating Navy fleet and has done so with zero COVID-19 infections among its civilian mariners at sea due to early and aggressive actions, the commander of MSC told USNI News. Read More
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.
SATTAHIP, Thailand—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. (Courtesy photo/Released)
Inaccurate surge sealift fleet readiness reporting misled geographic combatant commanders about their ability to quickly receive equipment resupplies, according to a Department of Defense Inspector General’s report. Read More
The dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Charles Drew (T-AKE 10) steams alongside the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) during a replenishment-at-sea in 2019. US Navy Photo
A former Military Sealift Command ship captain admitted he received high-speed rail travel and hotel stays, an iPad and expenses for a two-week, holiday family trip to South Korea in exchange for giving a South Korea-based husbanding company details about scheduled port visits. Read More
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
The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Greenville (SSN 772) prepares to moor alongside the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39), Dec. 9, 2018, near Puerto Princessa, Philippines. Emory S. Land is a forward-deployed expeditionary submarine tender on an extended deployment conducting coordinated tended moorings and afloat maintenance in the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operations. US Navy photo.
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy now plans to design and field two hulls under the Common Hull Auxiliary Multi-Mission Platform (CHAMP) program, after the program office realized the five mission areas CHAMP seeks to cover fit neatly into people-centric and volume-centric categories. Read More
USNS City of Bismarck (EPF-9) . US Navy photo.
The Navy this week accepted delivery of USNS City of Bismarck (EPF-9), the ninth of 12 contracted expeditionary fast transport (EPF) ships. Read More
