By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. - On January 22, 2020, the Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Defense released a declassified and redacted report, entitled, Audit of Surge Sealift Readiness Reporting. The surge sealift fleet, those 15 vessels held by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) and the 46 by the Department of Transportation’s Maritime … [Read more...]
Turbo Activation – A Sealift Surge, or just a Trickle?
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. - In September, gCaptain reported on Turbo Activation 19-Plus, US Transportation Command’s largest peacetime exercise of the 61-ship surge sealift fleet. Initial assessments, gathered from unclassified sources reported that 23 out of the 28 ships activated on Monday, September 16, 2019, were able to get underway to meet their readiness … [Read more...]
Military Sealift Command Top Brass Discuss Turbo Activation
U.S. Military Sealift Command commanders overseeing the U.S Transportation Command's recent turbo activation are providing new details about the large-scale "stress test" exercise involving dozens of reserve ships and hundreds of civilian mariners. Five of Military Sealift Command’s (MSC) East Coast-based and one West Coast-based surge sealift ships … [Read more...]
The Long Gray Line – Turbo Activation 2019
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. - On Monday, September 16, 2019, the United States Transportation Command ordered the no-notice activation of 28 out of the 61 ships held in the reserve sealift fleet. This exercise aimed to determine the material readiness of the fleet and whether the commercial merchant marine - the operating companies assigned to manage the vessels and … [Read more...]