ilitary Sealift Command reports through three distinct and separate chains of command:

• To the Commander of U.S. Transportation Command for defense transportation matters,
• To the Chief of Naval Operations for Navy-unique matters, and
• To the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition for procurement policy and oversight matters.

Programs and Directorates

Personnel work late into the evening securing vehicles aboard SS Maj. Stephen W. Pless. The vehicles were part of the fleet hospital being transported to U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photos by Susan Melow.

During FY 2002, MSC operated on the basis of four programs or business lines.

• Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force
• Special Mission
• Prepositioning
• Sealift

Each program was headed by a manager and a tailored staff, ensuring operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Functional directorates provided specialized support services to the business programs and the MSC commander.

• Maritime Forces and Manpower Management (N1)
• Counsel (N2)
• Operations and Plans (N3/5)
• Logistics (N4)
• Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems (N6)
• Engineering (N7)
• Comptroller (N8)
• Strategic Planning (N9)
• Contracts and Business Management (N10)

Personnel services for MSC’s federal civilian mariners were provided by the Afloat Personnel Management Center in Virginia Beach, Va.

SS Maj. Stephen W. Pless pulls away from the pier at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after delivering her fleet hospital cargo.

Area Command highlights

MSC has five area commands, each headed by a U.S. Navy captain, covering the Atlantic, Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Far East areas of responsibility. MSC’s five area commanders are the focal points for MSC customers in their respective areas and the personal representatives of MSC’s commander. The area commands also are the MSC commander’s direct links to MSC ships, providing maintenance, logistics and other needed services. Here are the highlights of area command activities for FY 2002.

Re-enactors representing British soldiers and American Minutemen fire volleys from the historic North Bridge in Concord, Mass., during the annual Patriot's Day Parade. The ceremony commemorates April 19, 1775, when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. Photo by Bill Cook.

MSC Atlantic: Norfolk, Va.

Supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, SS Maj. Stephen W. Pless, a maritime prepositioning ship, carried a fleet hospital from Jacksonville, Fla., to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January to provide a medical treatment facility for detainees captured in Afghanistan.

Capt. Joey Carlton, USN, Commander of Military Sealift Command Atlantic, participated in the Patriots’ Day parade in Concord, Mass., in April. This event commemorates an incident that sparked the American Revolutionary War. MSC presented the town with a flag flown aboard MSC combat stores ship USNS Concord.

A sunset parade was held aboard fast sealift ship USNS Denebola as part of New York City's Fleet Week celebrations in May. With the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, then-Rear Adm. David L. Brewer III, USN, Commander of Military Sealift Command, provided key remarks for this annual celebration.

MSC oilers continue to be the workhorses of the Atlantic Fleet.

Fast combat support ship USS Arctic transferred to MSC from the Navy combatant fleet during a ceremony held at Naval Weapons Station, Earle, N.J., in June. Transfer of this ship is part of the merging of MSC Atlantic and Commander Logistics Group Two, a transition that will continue into FY 2003.

In July, USNS Comfort, one of two hospital ships within MSC's fleet, deployed from Baltimore to England and Northern Europe. In addition to the civilian merchant mariner crew, the ship was staffed with uniformed medical personnel from Navy hospitals in Bethesda, Md., and Portsmouth, Va.

MSC oiler USNS Kanawha holds station off the starboard bow of sister ship USNS John Lenthall as they prepare for underway replenishment off the Virginia coast. Photo by B.J. Talley.

Throughout the year, Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force-East oilers continued to be the workhorses of the Atlantic Fleet. The six ships averaged thirty-nine additional days of support to the Fleet during the period.

MSC Pacific: San Diego, Calif.

Beginning in October 2001, MSC Pacific managed the ships providing fuel, ammunition, stores and services for Operations Noble Eagle and Neptune Shield, the Pacific Command and U.S. Coast Guard defense of the U.S. West Coast, following the terrorist attacks of September 11. These two operations became part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

In March and April 2002, MSC Pacific personnel were involved in exercise Native Atlas, a joint logistics-over-the-shore exercise held off the coast of California near Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton.

March also saw the MSC representative in Anchorage, Alaska, and MSC reservists from Seattle supporting harbor defense in Exercise Northern Edge.

An Army stevedore drives an armoured personnel carrier down USNS Seay's stern ramp to a floating causeway, part of the 1,200 vehicles off-loaded for exercise Native Atlas.

For Exercise Cobra Gold in May, MSC Pacific took operational control of U.S. Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Force ship MV Cape Horn, which subsequently suffered an engine room fire 800 nautical miles east of Hawaii, resulting in the death of two crew members. Cape Horn was towed to Pearl Harbor where her cargo was transferred to surge sealift ship USNS Seay for deployment to Thailand.

In June and July, MSC Pacific supported Fleet exercise RIMPAC with Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force ships USNS Yukon, USNS Tippecanoe and USNS Navajo; Special Mission Program ships USNS Victorious and USNS Effective, and Ready Reserve Force ships MV Cape Gibson. MSC Pacific Navy reservists from units in Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego also participated.

U.S. Army vehicles sit in position on a cause-way for transport to the exercise Native Atlas base camp after being driven off USNS Seay. Photos by Larry Crutchfield.

In July and August, fleet oiler USNS Tippecanoe, fleet ocean tug USNS Navajo and ocean surveillance ship USNS Bold participated in exercise Millennium Challenge, the largest fleet battle exercise ever conducted in the Pacific. MSC reservists from San Diego were integrated with the logistics and battle staffs for the exercise.

Twenty-two high school students participated in MSC's first-of-its-kind vocational program sponsored by the state of California.

For six weeks during the summer of FY 2002, 22 student apprentices sailed aboard USNS Tippecanoe and USNS Guadalupe, in a first-of-its-kind maritime vocational program sponsored by the State of California, the Mar Vista School District, the maritime industry and MSC Pacific. The Imperial Beach, Calif., students received classroom training toward U.S. Coast Guard certification at school, then sailed with MSC Pacific to gain sea time and experience. At the end of the training cruises, all three graduating seniors signed up to sail with MSC as civil service mariners. Two additional California school systems, Sacramento and Long Beach, will begin similar programs in FY 2003.

Navy Capt. Tim McCully, Commander, Military Sealift Command Pacific, talks with possible future mariners aboard oiler USNS Guadalupe as part of the Apprentice Training Program associated with Mar Vista High School in California. Photo by Larry Crutchfield.

MSC Europe: Naples, Italy

In December 2001, USNS Sirius finally headed home two months beyond her normal six-month deployment from Norfolk, Va., to the Mediterranean Sea due to commitments related to Operation Enduring Freedom. Over the deployment, Sirius conducted 150 replenishment operations, transferring more than 8,000 pallets of cargo. During 62 flight operations, the embarked commercial helicopters transferred 6,217 pallets.

Army stevedores load the deck of MSC-chartered ship MV Pella with wheeled vehicles for bilateral U.S.-Tunisian exercise Atlas Drop. Photo by Ed Baxter.

In January 2002, the employees of MSC Europe who had served with the command from October 1998 through January 2000 were awarded the NATO Medal for service in support of the Kosovo peacekeeping campaign.

Also in January, chartered cargo vessel MV Pella off-loaded U.S. Army equipment and supplies at Bizerte, Tunisia, supporting bilateral U.S. special operations exercise Atlas Drop 2002.

In May, 47 Navy reservists participated in exercise Unified Charger, working heavy combat equipment movement scenarios at five commercial ports throughout Europe.

From May to June, prepositioning ships SS Pfc. Eugene A. Obregon and USNS 1st Lt. Harry L. Martin participated in NATO Exercise Dynamic Mix off the coast of Tarragona, Spain. Anchored offshore, the ships off-loaded more than 450 pieces of U.S. Marine Corps hardware onto floating barges for delivery to shore.

In June 2002, two MSC contracted cargo vessels completed the first operational use of a Romanian port in support of peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. MV Saudi Diriyah loaded 172 pieces of cargo, including Blackhawk and Apache helicopters at the Black Sea port of Constanza.

MSC Central: Manama, Bahrain

During October and November 2001, prepositioning ships SS Maj. Stephen W. Pless and MV Cpl. Louis J. Hauge Jr., surge sealift ships USNS Seay, USNS Fisher and USNS Mendonca and commercial charter SS Chesapeake Bay participated during the redeployment phase of Exercise Bright Star in the port of Dekheila, Egypt.

In November 2001, USNS John Ericsson was responsible for stopping four high-speed boats in the Gulf of Oman. The boats were suspected of being affiliated with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.

In May and June 2002, commercial charter ship MV Maersk Arizona participated in exercise Turbo Container Ammunition Distribution System by loading and off-loading containers of military cargo and ammunition in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

MSC reservists set up the antenna tower for a mobile sealift operations center, a portable command center built into a 20-foot shipping container, which becomes the MSC nerve center for exercise or contingency locations. Photo by PH2 Jennifer A. Smith, USN.

During Operation Vigilant Hammer in July, USNS Watkins discharged her prepositioned Army cargo at the port of Ash Shuaibah, Kuwait. This marked the first time a large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship off-loaded her full cargo in a Persian Gulf port.

In September, commercially chartered integrated tug/barge Strong American delivered military cargo to support Exercise Early Victor in Aqaba, Jordan.

MSC Far East: Yokohama, Japan

From April to June, MSC Far East supported Exercise Cobra Gold, a joint training exercise with the Combined Forces Command. MSC reservists established a mobile sealift operations center to monitor and manage loading operations for prepositioning ships SS Gopher State, MV 1st Lt. Jack Lummus and MV 1st Lt. Baldomero Lopez, for surge sealift ship USNS Seay and for commercial charter MV Pacific Leader.

MSC Office Guam processed more than 250 civilian mariner job applications during FY 2002 that resulted in more than 100 new CIVMAR hires.

Five large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, or LMSRs, are an impressive sight together in Newport News, Va. The ships are (left to right) USNS Seay, USNS Mendonca, USNS Watkins, USNS Gordon and USNS Gilliland. Photo by Nobe Smith.

During the aftermath of Typhoon Chata'an, which devastated much of Guam and left many areas without power or water, MSC’s Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Three supplied urgently needed water to aid in the recovery process. The squadron also provided training opportunities for Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Five during a multinational exercise.

Navy reservists from NR MSC Far East 118 in St. Louis, Mo., and NR MSC Office Korea 218 from Kansas City, Mo., participated in the exercise Reception, Staging, Onward movement and Integration of forces.

Left to right: Cruiser USS Normandy, oiler USNS Leroy Grumman, aircraft carrier USS George Washington, fast combat support ship USNS Supply and combat stores ship USNS Saturn sail together as the three MSC ships supply the George Washington battle group. Photo by PM3 Summer M. Anderson, USN.