Mission of Mercy
September 22nd, 2010 | Military Sealift Command | Posted by Phil Ewing
MC2 Chad A. Bascom // Navy
The hospital ship Mercy is back in San Diego this week after a humanitarian cruise in the Pacific, according to an announcement from Military Sealift Command, which means a fresh shipment of fun facts about this aspect of global good-doing, courtesy of MSC spokeswoman Laura Seal:
Patients treated: 103,242. Pairs of eyeglasses and sunglasses distributed: 58,000. Miles sailed: 24,000. Dental care patients: 12,000. Hours’ worth of “information exchange” on first aid, nursing, cardiology orthopedics, nutrition, disaster response, water and food safety and public health promotion: 24,000. Number of community service projects ashore: 62. Months deployed: Five. Countries visited: four — Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Timor-Leste.
Number of beers and fish tacos consumed by the ship’s crew and medical team since their return home: No one can truly say.
Life support
September 20th, 2010 | Military Sealift Command Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
The amphibious transport dock San Antonio, here seen under construction in Avondale, La., has had a tough time in its early career. // Navy
The amphibious transport dock San Antonio sits idle in Norfolk, Va. because of problems that began years ago in the builder’s yard at Avondale, La. Its sibling, New Orleans, was delivered incomplete and ruled “degraded” by the Board of Inspection and Survey; members of its crew told Navy Times horror stories about weekends and holidays spent on the ship trying to get it ready for sea. Every welder, inspector and Navy inspector at Avondale, and its cousin in Pascagoula, Miss., had to be de-certified and then re-qualify last year to work on warships. And so on.
Ah, but that’s ancient history. On Friday, the Navy unveiled a plan to keep Avondale in business for at least the next several years — it will require the yard to finish work on both of the latest San Antonio-class gators under construction there, and move up construction of its new T-AO(X) class of oilers, with the idea that Avondale will bid for the work. The tricky thing is that General Dynamics’ NASSCO yard out in sunny San Diego also was counting on T-AO(X) to fill out its order books down the years, so the Navy’s political favor for Louisiana probably feels more like a knife in the back to Cali.
Then again, NASSCO has been cranking out T-AKE dry cargo and ammunition ships as reliably as the sunrise, and so if, as has been discussed, it turns out that T-AO(X) is just basically a T-AKE with only oiler stuff inside, NASSCO seems like it would have an edge. Shipbuilding expert Tim Colton said as much: “This is, of course, really good news for NASSCO, which is so much more efficient than Avondale that it can be expected to win by a comfortable margin,” he wrote.
That’s assuming Pentagon officials will keep all their promises about efficiency and fiscal discipline. What could also happen is that, from a program of, say, 14 T-AO(X)es — assuming the fleet wants to replace each T-AO in service today — a few will go to Avondale and a few will go to NASSCO, and as long as the local members of congress are happy, who cares about cost and performance, right? It’s all funny money anyway.
Problems are just opportunities in which to excel
August 30th, 2010 | Military Sealift Command | Posted by Phil Ewing
The dry cargo and ammunition ship Alan Shepard was one of five ships to suffer generator casualties in August, all of which got right back to work. // ABF3 Justin Sickler / Navy
You have to hand it to Rear Adm. Mark Buzby: Where another commander might have waited months to concede his fleet was dealing with apparently endemic equipment failures, Buzby came right out and announced it — and then used that announcement to brag about his team. Ships across Buzby’s Military Sealift Command have been having generator problems, he wrote in the September issue of MSC’s official magazine, Sealift, but that just gave the engineers the chance to shine:
August has been an amazing month for generator casualties — just ask the engineers on Mount Whitney, Joshua Humphreys, Big Horn, Cape Jacob and Alan Shepard. So what’s to be happy about? It’s the way those engineers — supported by the port engineers and [Military Sealift Fleet Support Command] staff ashore — quickly rallied the repair effort and got the ships back on mission with nary a missed beat. It was really impressive to see how quickly and professionally you tackled those mission-impacting casualties, and in the case of Mount Whitney, two at once! The rest of the Navy is quite jealous of your level of self-sufficiency and well, they should be.
Other observers might take a different interpretation about a rash of generator casualties aboard five ships in a single month — but c’mon! Look on the bright side!
MSC trades up
August 26th, 2010 | Military Sealift Command | Posted by Phil Ewing
Military Sealift Command
Military Sealift Command’s oceanographic survey ships might not be as flashy as your high-speed, high-glamor T-AOEs, and they don’t carry the same air of romance and danger as the cable-repair ship Zeus, but they nonetheless do a vital job: Charting the ocean floor to make sure American and allied ships have the best picture of the maritime domain.
MSC announced Thursday that it has deactivated its oldest survey ship, the John McDonnell, “as part of the effort to streamline survey operations,” according to a statement. “Unlike the Pathfinder class, which is capable of conducting both deep- and shallow-water scans, McDonnell was only equipped with the sensors to conduct shallow-water surveys.”
John McDonnell’s departure will make room for a brand new ship, T-AGS 66, scheduled to begin construction in October. It’ll be the Cadillac of oceanographic survey vessels, and include a new, custom moon pool with which to launch and recover research gear. As for the McDonnell, MSC plans to harvest its 34-foot oceanographic survey launches and field them aboard the remaining six ships in the class.
Marines storm MSC’s pirate oiler
July 19th, 2010 | Life at Sea Military Sealift Command | Posted by Phil Ewing
MCSN Scott Pittman / Navy
Let’s hope the crew of the Military Sealift Command oiler Leroy Grumman knew in advance that a team of Marines was planning to fast-rope onto their ship from this CH-53 Super Stallion — let’s hope it wasn’t a case in which these Marines were flying around, spotted a huge gray ship flying not one, but two Jolly Rogers, and said, uh oh! Pirates! Let’s take ‘em down!
The only one of its kind
June 30th, 2010 | Military Sealift Command The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
The VADM K.R. Wheeler trained this week to deploy and recover its eight miles of fuel hoses. // MSC
It’s seabasing’s world, and we just live in it — or so some elements in the Pentagon and at Quantico might say. So, all right: Y’got a whole bunch of angry, face-painted Devil Dogs ashore on a hostile beach doing what they do best — chopping up bad guys and kicking up rooster-tails in the sand with their armored vehicles — and then the combat element pushes inward. That leaves a beachhead for Navy and Marine Corps engineers to turn into a depot, and the first thing they’re going to want is gas for all their vehicles and equipment. Lots of gas. How do you get it there?
One way to do it is with Military Sealift Command’s offshore petroleum distribution ship VADM K. R. Wheeler, which, as this official story explains, is the only ship in the world that can stand miles out to sea and pump fuel ashore from a tanker. Here’s how it works: Wheeler’s crew sends a lighter amphibious resupply cargo vessel ashore to serve as an anchor, then attaches a messenger line to the LARC’s winch. It pulls in the line, which then guides the ship’s eight miles worth of hose to a connection on the beach. Wheeler can then start pumping up to 1,400 gallons of fuel per minute from a merchant vessel, an MSC oiler, or whatever’s available.
The ship practiced this routine — without actually delivering any fuel — in South Korea last week. Wheeler trains to deploy and recover its hoses about every year, just to be sure the ship is ready to go.
The T-AO with flags as black as the oil it carries
May 18th, 2010 | Military Sealift Command Photos Pirates | Posted by Phil Ewing
The ensigns of Henry Avery, the United States of America and Blackbeard flying aboard the oiler Leroy Grumman. // Tim Wheeler / MSC
We take great pleasure in sharing the latest spoils from the Inbox of Excellence — live, no-foolin’ photos of Military Sealift Command’s renegade oiler, the Leroy Grumman, flying not one — but two! — of its infamous Jolly Rogers.
These shots might not win any of your fancy National Geographic photo-prizes, having come from rogue cameras, after all, but they also come straight from the source: Leroy Grumman’s chief mate, Tim Wheeler, who was good enough to explain a little of the ship’s pirate-flag rules of engagement:
The skeleton with the cocktail who is stabbing the heart is Blackbeard’s and the more traditional one (or not) with the skull profile is Henry Avery’s — both fine, upstanding mariners. We use certain flag etiquette with these. If someone is alongside and they do a good job they’ll get “flagged” (weather permitting — these things are so big they can rip themselves up in a stiff head wind). If they’re just horrible we just want them away and we don’t even think about a “flagging”. If someone hauls up some wambly flag we’ll “flag” them and if someone has something decent/sizable, we feel compelled to “double-flag” ‘em so they’ll remember Grumman. A sister MSC ship generally gets a “double-flagging”. It makes sense to us, somehow. We’re always sure to announce when they’re up so our new crew can step outside, look aloft and swell up with pride — like us.
Outstanding! Honi soit qui mal y pense.
We asked for these shots in our original post from February about MSC’s pirate oiler, at the same time we asked for other pix of your ship flying a Jolly Roger — or doing anything cool. The offer stands, and we’d love to post your images here on the Deck.
Grumman's Jolly Rogers appear near its trademark MSC yellow and blue-striped stack. // Tim Wheeler / MSC
The hospital ship of the future
May 4th, 2010 | Military Sealift Command Sea Air Space Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The hospital ship Mercy sailed this week for a humanitarian mission to the Pacific. A future hospital ship might be smaller and with a shallower draft to get closer to shore, two top officials said. // MC2 Jon Husman / Navy
Although Navy, Military Sealift Command and civilian officials have raved about the hospital ships Comfort and Mercy, they’re 25 years old and can be difficult to manage — their size (70,000 tons) and deep draft (about 30 feet) means they often must anchor in deep water and accept patients by air or boat. So we took the chance Tuesday to ask Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Adam Robinson and Rear Adm. Mark “Buz” Buzby, head of Military Sealift Command, what they would incorporate into a new generation of hospital ships, if they could start with a clean sheet of paper.
Obligatory caveat: There is no serious talk about replacing Comfort and Mercy, and if it happened, Naval Sea Systems Command would build new hospital ships, not BuMed or MSC. But Robinson and Buzby’s thoughts on the subject are illuminating — and in Robinson’s case, hilarious:
Seven in Seven
April 22nd, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Congress Environment Foreign navies Maritime operations Military Sealift Command Navy NECC ordnance Recruiting SEALs Ships Submarines The deckplates The greenside The Middle East The Pacific Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
The Navy nabbed a lot of headlines again this week. Leading the way is news that the Green Hornet on Thursday took to flight – the fighter jet, not the super hero. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet was powered by a 50/50 blend of biofuel and JP-5.
That same day, a U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four American security contractors. Two others will soon have their day in court.
And on Wednesday, the Navy implemented its first change in 17 years to the Defense Department’s much-debated “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
Here’s seven stories in seven minutes from the past seven days that you may not have seen, but are worthy of notice:
The chow’s already great, and it’s about to improve
April 21st, 2010 | Chow Life at Sea Military Sealift Command Morale | Posted by Phil Ewing
The dry cargo and ammunition ship Sacagawea was one of three MSC ships to win a prize -- and a visit from an "executive chief" -- for its food service. // MC1 Hendrick Dickson / Navy
The civil-service mariners of Military Sealift Command handle millions of pounds of food every year resupplying Navy warships at sea, so they know about chow. But three ships in particular stand out in terms of excellent food service, according to an announcement this week.
The dry cargo and ammunition ship Sacagawea, the oiler Guadalupe and the oceangoing tug Catawba all have received this year’s David M. Cook Food Service Excellence Awards, the Navy said. Not only do the prizes reflect chow that’s already good, they almost guarantee it’ll get better:
“Contributing food service personnel aboard each winning ship will receive a performance award and a one-week shipboard culinary training session provided by a certified executive chef to further recognize each of the winning food service organizations for their contributions in providing quality meals and service.”
Imagine that: You just zipped 500 pallets of cargo over to an aircraft carrier, you take the elevator (that’s right) up to the mess and there’s Giada De Laurentiis back in the galley, ladling out bisque. Yeah, these civmars really know how to live.