MSC PAO 04-01
January 12, 2004
For more information, contact:
Marge Holtz or B.J. Talley
(202) 685-5055 or 202-494-6524

Navy cargo ship loads in Charleston in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom

USNS Regulus, a U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command fast sealift ship, will load U.S. Army cargo in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on Jan. 14, 2004, at the South Carolina Ports Authority's North Charleston Terminal.

Regulus, one of Military Sealift Command's eight noncombatant fast sealift ships, is nearly 950 feet long and can carry about 150,000 square feet of vehicles, rolling stock and containerized cargo - the equivalent of more than 1600 standard sport utility vehicles.

Shipboard ramps and cranes enable military equipment to be easily driven or hoisted onto the ship's multiple decks.

Ordinarily, Regulus is kept in reduced operating status at a berth in Norfolk, Va. The ship can be activated, fully crewed and underway to a loading port in just four days.

Fast sealift ships have a crew of 42 civilian mariners employed by a private company under contract to Military Sealift Command which owns the ships.

FSS are the some of the fastest military cargo ships in the world, with a top speed of up to 30 knots - equivalent to about 35 miles per hour.

MSC operates more than 120 noncombatant ships daily around the world. All MSC ships are crewed by civilian mariners who are federal civil service employees or employed by companies under contract to the Navy.

At the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom sealift operations in mid-March of 2003, more than 210 ships were operated by the command including cargo ships chartered from the commercial shipping industry and government-owned ships activated from reduced operating status. More than 165 of the 210 ships were directly supporting OIF operations by carrying the heavy volume of equipment for war fighters or replenishing U.S. Navy ships at sea.

MSC supports all branches of the U.S. military by transporting combat equipment and supplies; providing underway fuel and supply replenishment for the Navy fleets at sea and providing operating ships for undersea surveillance and oceanographic missions. MSC also operates prepositioning ships laden with combat equipment and cargo and located at strategic locations around the world enabling them to quickly sail to contingency sites when called.

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