101-meter catamaran will continue to support the operations of the United States Marine Corps’ Third Marine Expeditionary Force

The United States Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) has extended the charter of the Austal high speed vessel WestPac Express for six months with the award of a US$7.0 million modification to the contract announced in December 2011. This modification exercises the second of three six-month charter options in the contract. The first was exercised in August 2012.

As a result, the 101-meter catamaran will continue to support the operations of the United States Marine Corps’ Third Marine Expeditionary Force from its base in Okinawa, Japan until at least August 2013.  WestPac Express has been performing this role since July 2001 and has achieved in excess of 99% technical availability during that period.

The Austal-managed charter operation includes in-service support, ship management services and integrated logistics support.

NASA Image Of Diego Garcia

In shocking news from Washington, the United States, Britain and Mauritius have begun talks that may lead to America losing its strategic Indian Ocean supply hub at Diego Garcia. This news comes four years before America’s lease to use this small island in the Indian ocean expires in 2016 but also at a time when the Pentagon has declared the Pacific as the military’s top priority and engaged in talks to increase the number of ports in that region. The navy is a few years into a major project to build infrastructure in Guam so the prospect of handing over the western bookend of the country’s territory in Asia must worry Pentagon officials. AOL Defense blog asked a senior Pentagon official about the news and was told “Without commenting on discussions between other countries, the US military is the most flexible and agile in the world. We’re nimble enough to deal with any scenario, especially as we move toward a rotational posture in much of the Asia-Pacific region. Of course, it’s always preferable to have more options than fewer.” So why would the US limit it’s options and give up a port that’s a central hub of activity for the prepositioned ships – ships run by US merchant mariners – and currently hosts important missions including drone operations in Afghanistan? The Guardian newspaper in Britain said:

“After meeting David Cameron in Downing Street, the Mauritian prime minister, Navinchandra Ramgoolam, told the Guardian that the aim of talks with the UK and US was to reassert Mauritian sovereignty over the islands.” “If Mauritius achieves its longstanding aim – supported, it says, in international law – it will mean the end of the British Indian Ocean territory. The territory was established in 1965 when Britain expelled the islanders and allowed the US to set up a large base in a deal that included cutting the cost of Polaris missiles for the UK’s nuclear submarines.”

The real question is what’s the impetus for the talks. While some experts in Britain suggest budgetary concerns and others identify the rights of native islanders, others believe the reason is the United States itself. As the Guardian suggested that “the US could use the Chagos Islands to bomb Iran is another good reason why the UK must restore them to Mauritius.”

Crew Sticker From The USS Savannah

The USS Savannah (AOR-4), a Wichita-class tanker almost as long as two football fields, was operated by Military Sealift Command to refuel warships in the Mediterranean before she was decommissioned in 1995 and moored at the Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia.  She was eventually laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Virginia.

In 1998 the ship, now streaked with rust and stripped of her most valuable parts, was struck from the Naval Register and transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal. Over 10 years later the Department of Transportation finally signed a fee for service contract worth $515,726 with ESCO Marine of Brownsville, Texas, to scrap ex-Savannah.

The above video is a full HD nitty gritty look at the scrapping of this grey lady as featured on the television show Break It Down. Extensive footage of the ship is featured in the show including removal of the massive propeller and struggles with removing toxic items like asbestos prior to the full carnage of ripped steel.

[Via Jesus Diaz]

Military Sealift Command-chartered container ship MV BBC Ems departed McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Feb. 13 after delivering more than 84,000 square feet of vital supplies in support of Operation Deep Freeze. ODF is an annual U.S. Air Force-led mission to resupply the remote scientific outpost.

BBC Ems followed MSC tanker USNS Richard G. Matthiesen, which delivered more than 5.5 million gallons of crucial diesel, gasoline and jet fuel to McMurdo Station Jan. 29 to Feb. 5.

MSC ships deliver 100 percent of the fuel and about 80 percent of the supplies that the researchers and support personnel who live and work across Antarctica – up to 1,100 in the summer months – need to survive and work over the course of a year.

“Resupplying the Antarctic only happens once a year – it’s the window of opportunity,” said John Joerger, tanker project officer at MSC headquarters in Washington, D.C. “If we didn’t provide the fuel and supplies, they would have to shut the station down. They need it for heat, they need it for their vehicles, helicopters and all the things they do. If they don’t have fuel, they can’t survive in the Antarctic.”

An MSC dry cargo ship and tanker have made the dangerous voyage to Antarctica since the station was established in 1955.

BBC Ems arrived at McMurdo Station’s ice pier Feb. 5 carrying cargo that was loaded on board in Port Hueneme, Calif. Supplies aboard the 469-foot ship including food, household goods and research equipment; “everything you need to run a small city for a year,” said Timothy Pickering, cargo project officer at MSC headquarters.

It took 59 Sailors from the Williamsburg, Va.-based Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One and 65 members of the New Zealand Defence Force working around-the-clock three days to offload BBC Ems’ cargo. They then loaded the empty ship with cargo to be transported off the continent, including ice core samples carried back to the United States in three 40-foot refrigerated containers. The ship also took on trash and recyclable materials for disposal.

This year marks the final Antarctic voyage for MSC’s T-5 tanker class, of which Matthiesen is a part. Five tankers were built in the mid-1980s and chartered by MSC until 2003, when the command purchased four of the five.

“This is the last McMurdo Station port call for a T-5 tanker, a milestone in 26 years of dedicated tanker support by MSC, the Champion-class tankers and the U.S. merchant seamen who crew them in support of Operation Deep Freeze,” said Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, commander, MSC. “MSC will continue support to Operation Deep Freeze, but this marks the end of a proud era for the Champion-class tankers.”

The T-5s have been replaced for most Department of Defense fuel transport missions by two newly built tankers that came under charter to MSC in late 2010 and early 2011- MT Evergreen State and MT Empire State. Because these ships are not ice-strengthened, MSC will charter tankers on the commercial market to fill future ice missions.

-Source: MSC

From hurricanes to tsunami’s earthquakes, today’s levels of population growth coupled with global climate change is putting an increasing number of people at risk. What is not changing rapidly is the development and implementation of ideas to mitigate crisis.

What seems most promising is the idea that, rather than create new plans for new problems, borrow the ideas and resources from others. A good example of this is technology. Nearly two years ago we mentioned the use of Twitter to help locate victims and coordinate response efforts during crisis. Twitter already worked great for locating friends at nearby bars, so it was just a matter of rethinking it’s use as an emergency tool.

So what other systems are already in place to provide rapid support on a global scale? Specific to this blog… What maritime systems are already in place to provide rapid support on a global scale? In a post titled Urgent Solutions ~ Fast, Flexible, Scalable, Now, Joost Bonsen suggests the use of continerized solutions to support relief efforts in Haiti. He writes:

I’ve written before about the usefulness of containerized infrastructure and floating infrastructure – e.g. hospital ships, power generation barges, containerized health clinics, and more. Devastation in post-quake Port-au-Prince — and, btw, in other disaster-struck or war-ravaged recovery zones — demands that we invest heavily in ramping up and deploying many more of these urgent solutions, certainly as an essential part of rebuilding Haiti properly. Here’s further examples of fast, flexible, scalable, and re-deployable container-systems which are all needed now. First of all, water desalination and purification, for instance this HOH-USA unit…

While the idea has merit you must also consider the logistics involved in locating and transporting highly specialized containers. First, ships do not move at great speed and it takes time to load them. Second, finding containers designed for special missions and relocating them to a single port is a time consuming task regardless of the availability of a ship to put them on.

But the truth is that this idea is already being effectively implemented on a global scale by the US military in the form of prepositioned ships. For those unfamiliar with the program, propositioned vessels are commercial ships contracted by the military to sit idle at locations throughout the world. Although these ships rarely move, they are crewed with a full compliment of mariners and loaded down with all the items needed by troops engaged in conflict (Trucks, generators, food, desalination plants, medical supplies…) The thought being that, if a war breaks out, ships will be nearby and ready to supply the military at a moments notice.

If the idea works for the military, why couldn’t it work for humanitarian missions? I propose that, along with the Army and Navy, that the US Coast Guard be given a budget for prepositioning ships throughout the world. The cargo aboard these ships, however similar, would have a distinctly different mission… to be always ready so others might live.

The following diagram shows all known US and Canadian maritime assets currently deployed on earthquake support missions in Haiti. Click HERE to download the full resolution version of HERE for the PDF.

This information has been found via the following sources:

• Information Dissemination
• US Fleet Forces Command
• The United States Coast Guard
• Military Sealift Command
• US Maritime Administration (MARAD)

Ships Listed:

U.S. Fleet Forces (USFF) Units:

• USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70)
  
• USS Bataan (LHD 5) http://www.bataan.navy.mil/
  facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/USSBataan?ref=mf
• USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) http://www.fort-mchenry.navy.mil/
• USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) http://www.gunston-hall.navy.mil/
  
• USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) http://www.carter-hall.navy.mil/
• USS Normandy (CG 60) http://www.normandy.navy.mil/
• USS Underwood (FFG 36) http://www.underwood.navy.mil/
• USS Higgins (DDG 76)  http://www.higgins.navy.mil/
• USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) http://www.bunker-hill.navy.mil/
  

Military Sealift Command (MSC) Units:

• USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51) http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/ships.asp?ship=96
• USNS Henson (T-AGS-63) http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/ships.asp?ship=103
• USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2) http://www.msc.navy.mil/sacagawea/
• USNS Sumner (T-AGS-61) http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/ships.asp?ship=161
• USNS 1st LT Jack Lummus (T-AK 3011)  http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/ships.asp?ship=118
• USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198) http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/ships.asp?ship=14
  

US Coast Guard Ships

• USCGC Oak
• USCGC Tahoma
• USCGC Mohawk
• USCGC Forward
• USCGC Valiant

Naval Medical Command (NAVMED) Units:

• USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/usnscomfort/

Netherlands

HNLMS Pelikaan (A804)

Canada

HMCS Halifax (FFH 330)
HMCS Athabaskan (DDH 282)

Italy

MMI Cavour (550) (arrival 29th)

France

FNS Siroco (L 9012)
FNS Francis Garnier (L 9031)

Mexico

Hospital ship Huasteco
ARM Papaloapan

Spain

SNS Castilla (L52) (arrival after 29th)

Venezuela

TBA

Brazil

TBA

More Information:

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE OF MARITIME OPERATIONS IN HAITI

SS Chesapeake was built by the Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard in Baltimore, Maryland and served as a commercial tanker under the name SS Hess Voyager for Hess Shipping Company from 1964 to 1980. On July 22, 1980, she was renamed the SS Chesapeake.

On December 15,  1987 the U.S. Maritime Administration relieved Hess Shipping of the vessel under an exchange program and was laid up in the Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Fleet. In 2000 she was placed in service by the Military Sealift Command as SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084), where she is currently still active in service as one of MSC’s thirteen Common User Tankers and operated under contract by Interocean Ugland Management Corp., Voorhees, N.J.

Image courtesy: US Navy photo # 081101-N-4973M-001 ARABIAN SEA (Nov. 1, 2008) by MC3 Brian Morales.

On May 1, Chinese fishing vessels closed in on and maneuvered near the USNS Victorious in international waters in the Yellow Sea, Pentagon officials said Monday. The Victorious is one of the five ocean surveillance ships that are part of the 25 ships in Military Sealift Command’s Special Mission Ships Program.

The vessel was conducting routine operations 170 miles off the coast of China when two Chinese fishing vessels approached within 30 yards of the Victorious.  The Victorious took defensive measures as the vessels got close. The Victorious crew sounded the ship’s danger alarms and manned fire hoses. They sprayed water at the Chinese vessels, but did not hit them, officials said.

The Victorious requested the assistance of a nearby Chinese government vessel, at which time the fishing vessels departed.  The incident is strikingly similar to the March 8 incident where five Chinese vessels surrounded the USNS Impeccable as it was conducting operations 80 nautical miles off Hainan Island. There have been other incidents where Chinese vessels operated in an unsafe manner around U.S. ocean surveillance ships.

Given the simlarities between the two incidents, let’s recap with a similar post to what we did with the USNS Impeccable back in March.

USNS Victorious FAQ

What type of vessel is the USNS Victorious?

The USNS Victorious is a T-AGOS vessel operated by Military Sealift Command (MSC) , the civilian arm of the US Navy. The vessel is 235 feet in length, 95 feet in width and carries a crew of 19 civilian mariners, 5 contract personnel and up to 8 Navy personnel.

What is the mission of a T-AGOS vessel

MSC tells us: Ocean surveillance ships have a single mission — gather underwater acoustical data. The T-AGOS ships operate to support the anti-submarine warfare mission of the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.

How do they conduct ocean surveillance missions?

The vessels were designed to provide a stable platform for the launch, use and recovery of anti-submarine acoustic arrays. Once the equipment is launched the SWATH (catamaran) design allows the vessel to ride over heavy seas and keep from rolling. The following diagram shows these arrays deployed.

Why are civilians carrying out US Navy Missions?

During World War II, four separate government agencies controlled sea transportation. In 1949, the Military Sea Transportation Service became the single managing agency for the Department of Defense’s ocean transportation needs. The command assumed responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all military services as well as for other government agencies.

During the Vietnam War, MSTS was renamed Military Sealift Command. Between 1965 and 1969, MSC transported nearly 54 million tons of combat equipment and supplies and nearly 8 million tons of fuel to Vietnam. MSC ships also transported troops to Vietnam. The Vietnam era marked the last use of MSC troop ships. Now, U.S. troops are primarily transported to theater by air.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, MSC provided the Department of Defense with ocean transportation in support of U.S. deterrent efforts during the Cold War years. (Source: Military Sealift Command).

To put it simply, civilian mariners, working as federal employees aboard US Government owned ships, carry the equipment and supplies for US Navy Warships. If an aircraft carrier needs fuel, the Army needs tanks transported overseas or non-combat missions need to be conducted, MSC vessels are the first to be used.

Why are we patrolling for submarines near Chinese waters?

Simply put, China has, in recent years, been building Nuclear Ballistic Submarines and Navy bases which will provide them with the ability to project power beyond their shore.
Further, Military.com tells us:

China has (or will have) an edge in three important aspects of undersea warfare — a battle which we mustn’t forget is fought from the surface and in the air and outer space, as well as down in the water column. One aspect is her geographic situation. If a PLAN sub breaks through nearby anti-China choke points, that sub gains immediate access to the deep and vast waters of the Pacific Ocean where it can exploit bad weather, protective acoustic propagation effects, and other local factors in order to disappear, lurk, and then attack. American subs based at Guam, Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. East and West Coasts, because of the tremendous distances involved, might lose the race to reach and block those choke points.

T-AGOS vessels are the first line of defense in warning us if a Chinese boomer “escapes” into the Pacific. They also warn against other boats of China’s growing Submarine Fleet.

So what is the likely mission of these T-AGOS vessels?

If placed at strategic underwater choke points the Navy hopes to identify underwater threats as they enter the Pacific Ocean.

How difficult are these submarines to detect once they escape into the Pacific?

Difficult enough that in November 2007 a Chinese submarine sailed, undetected, into the middle of a US Navy carrier group and popped the hatch center stage (Link). Submarines are the most effective platform for detecting other subs but even this is difficult as a recent collision between French and British subs demonstrates.

Are T-AGOS vessels enough to detect Chinese submarines?

No. They are only one tool in the US Navy’s arsenal to detect foreign boats. Acoustic buoys, anti-submarine aircraft, satellites, naval intelligence all work in combination to detect subs but it is unknown what resources the US is putting behind these technologies in the Pacific.

It is also important to note that submarines themselves are the most effective platform in detecting foreign vessels but of the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s 35 submarines (including three nuclear attack submarines based in Guam during 2006), about a dozen are underway at sea on operational duties at any one time (Source).

What happens if a Chinese boomer enters the pacific?

Best case, not much. Worst case… they launch a nuclear missile or simply threaten to do so while they attack Taiwan or Japan.

How much of this information is confirmed by the US Navy?

Very little, we are simply using our knowledge of maritime operations to make an educated guess.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Your thoughts?

Photo via Navy.mil

According to AFP, the US Navy has nabbed 7 suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden.  The Marshall Islands flagged ship, Polaris, sent a distress signal to report an attempted boarding of their vessel by suspected pirates.

The guided missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf responded, intercepting a small skiff with seven men matching the descriptions given by the Polaris crew.

The suspected pirates are being held on board the Vella Gulf until they transfer to the USNS Lewis and Clark, a civilian ship usually used to haul cargo and ammunition that has been repurposed to serve as a temporary holding center for suspected pirates.

The capture marks the first time that suspected pirates have been caught by a vessel from the Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151), a multinational task force that conducts and focuses on counter-piracy operations in and around the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.  The USS Vella Gulf has been the flagship vessel of CTF 151 since February 4.

UPDATE:

The Navy Times tells us of the new “Pirate Brig”… an MSC ship.

The suspected pirates will likely stay aboard the Vella Gulf until sometime Thursday, when they’ll be transferred to a new temporary brig aboard the Military Sealift Command supply ship USNS Lewis and Clark. One of the Lewis and Clark’s cargo holds has been outfitted with foam pallets and portable toilets to serve as a holding area for as many as 26 people. A detachment of Marines aboard the ship serves as guards.