"On time . . . every time."

ilitary Sealift Command’s Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force ships provided logistic support to U.S. Navy combatant ships worldwide in FY 2001, delivering food, fuel, parts, equipment and ammunition "On time . . . every time." NFAF ships also provided towing and salvage services. Two 1,000-bed hospital ships, USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, round out the NFAF fleet. Mercy and Comfort are kept in reduced operating status, one on each U.S. coast, and can be fully crewed in five days. Comfort was activated Sept. 12 and sailed to New York City to provide hot meals, lodging and laundry and medical services to the rescue workers responding to the World Trade Center terrorist attack. Comfort returned to her Baltimore, Md., layberth and reduced operating status Oct. 1.

Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force Ships - 35 (as of Sept. 30, 2001) Fleet Oilers - 13 USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO 193) USNS John Ericsson (T-AO 194) USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO 195) USNS Guadalupe (T-AO 200) USNS Kanawha (T-AO 196) USNS Laramie (T-AO 203) USNS John Lenthall (T-AO 189) USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201) USNS Pecos (T-AO 197) USNS Rappahannock (T-AO 204) USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199) USNS Yukon (T-AO 202) Combat Stores Ships - 6 USNS Concord (T-AFS 5) USNS Niagara Falls (T-AFS 3) USNS Spica (T-AFS 9) USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7) USNS Saturn (T-AFS 10) USNS Sirius (T-AFS 8) Fleet Ocean Tugs - 5 USNS Apache (T-ATF 172) USNS Catawba (T-ATF 168) USNS Mohawk (T-ATF 170) USNS Navajo (T-ATF 169) USNS Sioux (T-ATF 171) Ammunition Ships - 7 USNS Butte (T-AE 27) ROS* USNS Flint (T-AE 32) USNS Kilauea (T-AE 26) ROS* USNS Kiska (T-AE 35) USNS Mount Baker (T-AE 34) USNS Santa Barbara (T-AE 28)    ROS* USNS Shasta (T-AE 33) Hospital Ships - 2 USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) Fast Combat Support Ships - 1 USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) Modular Cargo Delivery System Ships - 1 SS Cape Girardeau (T-AK 2039) *Reduced operating status

USNS Comfort passes the Statue of Liberty en route to Manhattan to provide assistance to the emergency relief personnel following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Photo by JO1 Preston Keres

U.S. Civil Service mariners crew the NFAF ships, some of which also have small U.S. Navy military departments on board to provide technical support. On MSC’s combat stores ships, Navy personnel also conduct supply operations. Military medical professionals staff the medical facilities aboard the hospital ships.

Deployment and Operation Highlights

Combat Stores Ships
     USNS Spica, serving in the Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, was the recipient of Seventh Fleet’s 2001 Logistics Excellence Award.

USNS Concord, normally assigned to the Mediterranean Sea, changed places with Spica. Concord became an MSC Pacific ship and Spica went to MSC Atlantic. The swap included a transfer of crews.

Fleet ocean-going tug USNS Catawba conducts a simulated distressed diver drill during the multi-nation operation Arabian Gauntlet 2001. Photo courtesy of USNS Catawba.

Helicopters
     Combat stores ships deployed in the Mediterranean continued to use a commercial helicopter detachment in place of Navy CH-46s. The contract aircraft detachment has been forward deployed in the Mediterranean since February 2000. During this time, they have flown more than 446 hours and carried more than 12,206 tons of external cargo between MSC combat stores ships and the U.S. Navy combatants of Sixth Fleet.

Fleet Ocean Tugs
     While deployed to the Persian Gulf, USNS Catawba performed several short-notice tows of United Nations sanctions violators. She also supported Fifth Fleet mine exercises, and provided emergency refueling to several United Nations-detained commercial ships.

USNS Apache provided support to Navy diving and salvage units working on the recovery of Civil War ironclad warship Monitor.

USNS Mohawk concluded a 12-month Mediterranean deployment in August. She salvaged a sunken Navy passenger ferry, performed international cross-training exercises with U.S. Navy and Albanian navy divers and conducted dive operations with Tunisia, Turkey, Croatia and Bulgaria.

USNS Navajo and USNS Sioux took turns as tow vessel and escort vessel for nuclear submarine ex-USS Narwhal from Panama to her resting grounds in Washington State. These two West Coast tugs towed the FLIP vessel, a floating instrument platform that takes on water ballast so one end sinks, turning the oceanographic research vessel to a vertical position. Sioux laid 69 simulated mines in one-and-a-half days for exercise Kernel Blitz 2001. Navajo towed ex-Reeves from Hawaii to Australia, experiencing failure of the 14-inch tow hawser when ex-Reeves’ rudder locks broke. Increased fuel consumption required an unscheduled stop in a narrow protected cove on the lee of an island, requiring extraordinary seamanship. Navajo’s performance was recognized by the Navy’s Seventh Fleet.

Fleet Oilers
     Thirteen Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet oilers provided the Navy fleets with freight service, passenger transfers and mail delivery in addition to providing both aviation and diesel fuel. The ships participated in 18 major NATO and joint-service exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

Fleet oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl prepares to replenish a guided missile cruiser and an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.

USNS John Lenthall and USNS Patuxent worked with Navy combatant ships in Operation Noble Eagle, patrolling the U.S. East Coast after the devastating terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Earlier in the year, USNS Leroy Grumman took part in Operation Determined Response, escorting MV Blue Marlin, a chartered heavy-lift ship that brought USS Cole home following a terrorist attack in Yemen.

Ammunition Ships
     Four ammunition ships were active during FY 2001. USNS Shasta, exhibiting typical NFAF operating tempo, completed a voyage repair period in San Diego, loaded ammunition in Washington state and participated in a fleet pre-deployment readiness exercise.

USS Supply's color guard hauls down the colors for the last time. The colors were then raised again as the ship officially became USNS Supply.

She then began regular fleet service between Guam, Hawaii and Washington state, later participating in a second fleet pre-deployment readiness exercise. Three ammunition ships, USNS Butte, USNS Kilauea and USNS Santa Barbara, are in reduced operating status as a cost-saving measure during a period of reduced need.

Fast Combat Support Ships
     USS Supply was decommissioned and became USNS Supply upon transferring to MSC in July. Following a short familiarization sail, the ship entered a shipyard for post-transfer work. Her sister ships, USS Rainier, USS Arctic and USS Bridge will also transfer to MSC as they are decommissioned over the next three years.

USS Supply sits pierside at Naval Weapons Station Earle, N.J., shortly before her July decommissioning and transfer to Military Sealift Command.

Modular Cargo Delivery System Ship
     SS Cape Girardeau, a U.S. Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Force ship, was activated to exercise her modular cargo delivery system stations. This also provided training and experience for the Navy reserve cargo afloat rig teams that crewed the stations. Girardeau delivered dry cargo and stores to USS Abraham Lincoln, which was returning from deployment in the Pacific Ocean. Girardeau, like all Ready Reserve Force ships, comes under MSC’s operational control when activated.