The Oct. 21, 2022 keel laying ceremony for the future Robert E. Simanek (ESB-7). US Navy Photo
General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company recently laid the keel for the Navy’s next Expeditionary Sea Base, the service announced today. Read More
Military Sealift Command Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE-13) sails alongside the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD-24) prior to a replenishment-at-sea in the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 7, 2022. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. – The American defense maritime industrial base has atrophied to a point where the United States builds less than 1 percent of the world’s ocean-going fleets and has less than 4 percent of the world’s licensed mariners while China establishes itself as a maritime nation, Military Sealift Command’s top officer said Tuesday. Read More
PHILIPPINE SEA (Jan. 20, 2022) An AS332 Super Puma transports cargo from the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9) onto the flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) during a replenishment-at-sea. U.S. Navy Photo
Buying nine used cargo ships is a first step toward the much needed modernization of Military Sealift Command’s fleet, but the sealift enterprise requires the revitalization of American shipbuilding and yard maintenance to experience long-term benefits, the top general leading U.S. Transportation Command said Wednesday. Read More
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
