he Sealift Program provides ocean transportation to the Department of Defense in peacetime, during a contingency and in wartime, carrying combat equipment and supplies to locations around the world and providing surge shipping for these assets when required. The program also provides ocean transportation for humanitarian and peacekeeping missions.

The Sealift Program also provides ocean transportation for humanitarian and peacekeeping missions.

The Sealift Program maintains a close working relationship with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, manager of the 76-ship Ready Reserve Force. When activated, MSC assumes operational control of RRF ships.

Tanker Project

In FY 2002, six long-term contract tankers and 79 voyage and short-term time chartered vessels provided 215 lifts, delivering almost 1.5 billion gallons of petroleum products to DOD facilities around the world.

Throughout FY 2002, the tanker fleet maintained an impressive record of zero fuel spills.

MV Lawrence Gianella, an MSC long-term chartered tanker, prepares to transfer fuel to another MSC chartered ship, MT Sanmar Sonata, off the coast of Raysut, Oman.

MV Montauk, a 30,000-barrel capacity chartered tanker, provided shuttle service between suppliers and shallow-draft depots in South Korea and Japan for the Defense Energy Support Center in FY 2002, completing more than 50 voyages.

MV Gus W. Darnell, one of MSC’s five T-5 tankers, re-supplied McMurdo Station in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze as a service to the National Science Foundation and provided fuel in support of Operation Pacer Goose, the annual re-supply of Thule Air Base, Greenland.

MSC long-term chartered tanker MV Gus W. Darnell sits at the ice pier at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, part of the annual resupply mission for the National Science Foundation. Photo by Peter West.

Cargo Project

In FY 2002, four long-term charters met unique missions that liner services could not provide. Break-bulk ships carried supplies and equipment to Diego Garcia; an ice-strengthened ship supported the U.S. Air Force at Thule Air Base, Greenland, and the National Science Foundation at McMurdo Station, Antarctica; a Jones Act ship, required for U.S. port-to-port voyages, supported the Hawaiian Islands and U.S. territories in the Mid-Pacific; and a tug/barge asset supported Navy operations in the Bahamas.

By using a combination of commercial charters and government-owned surge sealift assets, the Cargo Project made 21 lifts moving 62,000 tons in support of OEF in FY02.

	LEFT: Protective water sprays from fire hoses clipped to the rails aboard USNS Bob Hope during a simulated chemical attack at Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C., for Operation Southern Breeze. The spray is designed to reduce the amount of chemical agent that enters or settles on the ship in an actual attack.
Technicians prepare the agricultural spray rig used to simulate a chemical attack on USNS Bob Hope. The rig was carried aloft by an Army UH-1 helicopter. Photos by Cheryl Roston.

Surge Sealift Ships – 18 (as of Sept. 30, 2002) Fast Sealift Ships – 8 USNS Algol (T-AKR 287) USNS Altair (T-AKR 291) USNS Antares (T-AKR 294) USNS Bellatrix (T-AKR 288) USNS Capella (T-AKR 293) USNS Denebola (T-AKR 289) USNS Pollux (T-AKR 290) USNS Regulus (T-AKR 292) Large, medium-speed, roll-on/    roll-off ships – 10 USNS Shughart (T-AKR 295) USNS Gordon (T-AKR 296) USNS Yano (T-AKR 297) USNS Gilliland (T-AKR 298) USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR 300) USNS Fisher (T-AKR 301) USNS Seay (T-AKR 302) USNS Mendonca (T-AKR 303) USNS Pililaau (T-AKR 304) USNS Brittin (T-AKR 305)

Surge Project

USNS Bob Hope and USNS Brittin, two large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, or LMSRs, joined the surge fleet in FY 2002, bringing the current total to ten. During 2003, MSC will receive the eleventh and final LMSR, USNS Benavidez.

Ready Reserve Force crane ship SS Cornhusker State transfers containers to USAV Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker, a U.S. Army logistic support vessel, in the Persian Gulf.

The Ready Reserve Force comprised 76 militarily useful government-owned merchant ships at the end of FY 2002. Operated and maintained by commercial ship managers under contract to the U.S. Maritime Administration, the ships can be activated in four, five, 10 or 20 days. About 25 percent of the ships were activated under MSC’s operational control to test their readiness for war and for various exercises in FY 2002.