Military Sealift Command Maintains an Accelerated Pace

Sea Power,  Jul 2004  by Randall, Frank

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The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) undertook one of the largest and fastest military cargo movements since World War II during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the work is not finished yet.

As efforts continue in support of the second phase of the operation, MSC planners already are contemplating the back-load of cargo so recently delivered for rotating U.S. forces. MSC's job will not be over until the last tank, truck, humvee and container are back in the hands of their owners and operators, either in the United States or at bases elsewhere in the world. And that won't be an easy task.

From Jan. 1 to May 1, 2003, MSC delivered 25.9 million square feet of combat cargo for U.S. forces involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. This included nearly 200,000 pallets of munitions and food to Navy combat ships at sea, as well as wheeled and tracked combat equipment, rolling stock such as bridge sections and artillery pieces, and containers of other unit cargo and munitions to U.S. ground forces operating in Iraq.

At the same time, MSC tankers and fleet replenishment oil ers delivered 378 million gallons of fuel for the war effort. Naval Fleet Auxiliary force oilers pumped 117 million gallons to Navy surface combat ships for bunker fuel and for their aircraft. MSC-owned tankers and commercial chartered ships also delivered 261 million gallons for use by ground and air forces engaged in the operation. In one unusual operation, an MSC fleet replenishment oiler resupplied a U.S. submarine on extended patrol and running short of food and consumables.

More than 250 ships were involved in the massive cargo movement, including combat logistics force ships serving the Navy fleet.

Not all went as planned. Most of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division's gear was earned aboard Ready Reserve Force roll-on/roll-off ships and intended to be off-loaded in Turkey to enable U.S. troops to move into Iraq from the north. However, the government of Turkey refused to grant coalition forces permission to move through their country, so the ships waited off the coast of Crete for a month until an alternate plan was put into operation. Finally, the ships began to move south and transited the Suez Canal in small convoys to make the journey around the Arabian Peninsula and into the Persian Gulf, where they eventually off-loaded in Kuwait beginning in early March 2003.

MSC finished the huge delivery of combat cargo for this initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom by the end of April 2003.

From the beginning of May until the middle of September 2003, another, smaller surge sealift phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom moved 7.2 million square feet of combat cargo into and out of Iraq, primarily through the Kuwaiti port of Ash Shuayba. Replacement of battle-damaged equipment and vehicles comprised the majority of the movement.

Iraqi Freedom, Phase Two

In January, the second major phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom began in preparation for the rotation of 110,000 troops into Iraq and the movement of 130,000 out. MSC began moving their combat gear early in January, and delivered an estimated 24 million square feet by the beginning of June. Nearly 10 million square feet of building equipment and replacement combat vehicles was delivered to Kuwait. Fourteen million square feet of U.S. forces gear subsequently was on-loaded to MSC ships for the voyage back to the United States.

This time, MSC used primarily government-owned ships because they were readily available, having just completed delivery of their inbound cargo. Overall, far fewer ships were used in the cargo movement due to extensive employment of MSC's surge and prepositioning Large, Medium-Speed, Roll-On/Roll-Off ships (LMSRs).

These 954-feet-long ships sail at an average speed of 24 knots and are almost as large as an aircraft carrier. They can cany more than 300,000 square feet of wheeled and tracked vehicles on multiple, internally linked decks. Most commercial roll-on/roll-off ships capable of carrying military vehicles can accommodate an average of only 150,000 square feet.

MSC made heavy use of LMSRs in both phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Nineteen of the giant ships were acquired following the first Persian Gulf war after analysis indicated the need for additional prepositioning and surge sealift capacity, primarily for U.S. Army combat cargo.

Navy's Ocean Transportation Provider

A global command with more than 10,000 employees afloat and ashore, MSC is a component of U.S. Transportation Command and provides ocean transport for Army and Marine Corps combat equipment, munitions for the Air Force and Navy and fuel for the Department of Defense. MSC also supports the Navy's combatant fleet by at-sea replenishment of food, fuel, parts and supplies, as well as providing oceanographic and ocean surveillance data to support daily operations.

MSC's work force is primarily civilian, with fewer than 700 active-duty Navy billets, but access to more than 1,300 Navy reservists when needed. More than 80 percent of MSC's people serve at sea, from U.S. Civil Service mariners and commercial mariners working for ship-operating companies under contract to MSC to Navy sailors and reservists. MSC normally operates about 120 ships worldwide daily.