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

During FY 2004, MSC operated four programs:

• 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)

Area Command Highlights

MSC has five area commands, each headed by a U.S. Navy captain, covering the Atlantic, Pacific, Europe, Central and Far East areas of responsibility. MSC's five area commanders are the focal points for MSC customers in their respective areas and are the personal representatives of MSC's commander. Area commands are the MSC commander's direct links to MSC ships, providing maintenance, logistics and port services.

Sealift Logistics
Command Atlantic (SEALOGLANT): Norfolk, Va.

Capt. Robert C. Jackson, USN, commander of the newly formed Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic (left), and Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, USN (right), unveil the official seal of the new command at a ceremony aboard fast combat support ship USNS Arctic at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Va. Photo by Bill Cook.

MSC became the single fleet logistics provider in the Atlantic area of responsibility in July 2004 when Combat Logistics Squadron Two and Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force-East merged with Military Sealift Command Atlantic to form Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic.

During FY 2004, SEALOGLANT managed the loading of 54 ships with cargo for Operation Iraqi Freedom at ports from Philadelphia to Corpus Christi, Texas.

Other highlights of FY 2004 include:

In February, USNS Mendonca and USNS Seay, two of MSC's large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, served as test platforms for Department of Energy scientists developing radiation detection equipment designed to reveal hidden radioactive material aboard cargo ships.

Also in February, Marine transportation specialists from SEA-LOGLANT and their Houston representative, as well as MSC Navy reservists from Houston and Wilmington, N.C., facilitated loading and operation of four U.S. Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Force ships activated for a two-week joint logistics over-the-shore exercise in Honduras, part of the New Horizons series.

MSC hospital ship USNS Comfort’s Medical Treatment Facility team and Canadian military personnel muster on the ship’s helicopter deck at the beginning of a two-week training exercise in Canada. Photo by HM3(FMF) Gilman Fortin, USN.

Ready Reserve Force ship SS Flickertail State delivered Marine Corps support equipment – Humvees, medical supplies, crates of bottled water and two reverse osmosis water purification systems – to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in early March.

Hospital ship USNS Comfort sailed from her layberth in Baltimore to take part in a U.S.-Canadian Combined Joint Medical Exercise in August. The ship embarked approximately 400 people, including 17 Canadian and nearly 300 U.S. Navy medical personnel, for a joint training exercise that promoted multinational civilian and military cooperation through joint humanitarian assistance planning.

Fast combat support ship USNS Supply earned a Department of the Navy Safety Excellence Award recognizing her crew's safety awareness and accident avoidance during the year.

Military Sealift Command Pacific (MSCPAC): San Diego

In October 2003, USNS Sisler and USNS Shughart loaded combat gear in Tacoma, Wash., and sailed to Ash Shuaybah, Kuwait. USNS Soderman brought returning combat cargo from Kuwait in late October, off-loading in Long Beach, Calif.

USNS Zeus conducted cable laying/repair operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean, while fleet ocean tug USNS Navajo towed ex-USS Anchorage to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in late October.

In December, USNS Pililaau made the first of two stops in Pearl Harbor to pick up cargo for Hawaii's 25th Infantry Division, which was deployed to the Middle East. The ship carried more than 4,000 pieces of combat cargo – nearly 500,000 square feet – during the two voyages.

In January 2004, Ready Reserve Force ships SS Cape Island, SS Cape Intrepid, MV Cape Hudson and MV Cape Horn and MSC fast sealift ships USNS Altair and USNS Bellatrix loaded First Marine Expeditionary Force gear for the 11,650-nautical mile trip to the Persian Gulf. All together, the ships moved more than 6,200 pieces of equipment to the Middle East.

In the Pacific Northwest, Ready Reserve Force ships SS Cape Inscription, MV Cape Orlando and SS Cape Isabel loaded 1,500 pieces of combat equipment for the Army's 81st Armored Brigade in mid-February.

Back in Hawaii, Ready Reserve Force ship SS Cape Henry loaded 316 pieces of equipment for the 25th ID on March 4.

In June, SS Cape Island sailed into Port Olympia, Wash., to load nearly 400 pieces of military equipment for delivery to the Persian Gulf region. In August, MV Cape Orlando entered the Port of Olympia to load additional combat cargo for Army units operating in the Middle East.

MV American Tern and USNS Lawrence H. Gianella delivered National Science Foundation materiel and fuel to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, as part of Operation Deep Freeze. After unloading return cargo from McMurdo, MV American Tern loaded ammunition and cargo bound for Exercise Cobra Gold in Thailand.

A Mar Vista High School student gets a helping hand with his oxygen mask while preparing for a firefighting simulation.

During the summer of 2004, three MSC Pacific ships provided able seaman and qualified member of the engineering department apprentice training for 20 students from Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, Calif. Each apprentice served aboard ship for 60 days. Fleet replenishment oilers USNS Rappahannock and USNS Diehl accommodated 18 apprentices and fleet ocean tug USNS Navajo carried two apprentices. Of the 20 apprentices starting the program, 18 successfully completed summer training. Five graduated from Mar Vista in June and were recommended for employment with MSC.

Students battle intense flames during a flight deck fire scenario. The students attend MSC’s firefighting school as part of Mar Vista High School’s Maritime Technologies Regional Occupational Program and MSC’s Apprenticeship Training Program. Photos by Larry “E.” Crutchfield.

Military Sealift Command Europe (MSCEUR): Naples, Italy

In October 2003, prepositioning ship MV 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo conducted an inaugural port visit to Richard's Bay, South Africa, opening up another important refueling port for MSC ships transiting to and from the Middle East by way of the Cape of Good Hope.

In November, the staff from Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron One, who had moved ashore in early 2003 to establish MSC Office Souda Bay, Greece, moved back aboard their flagship, SS Pfc. Eugene A. Obregon. MSC Office Souda Bay played a vital role in Operation Iraqi Freedom, providing fuel and supplies to hundreds of MSC ships transiting to and from the Persian Gulf via the Mediterranean Sea and Suez Canal.

In January 2004, five MSC large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, or LMSRs, loaded combat cargo for the Army's 1st Infantry Division at Antwerp, Belgium. MSC personnel joined with the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command's 598th Transportation Terminal Group to complete the massive load of 10,000 pieces of equipment.

In August, MSC Europe managed the return of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division cargo to ports in Belgium and Germany, off-loading more than 70,000 tons of heavy combat equipment and supplies.

A team of Italian naval special forces, equivalent to U.S. Navy SEALs, rappelled from SH-3 helicopters to the deck of SS Pfc. Eugene A. Obregon in April 2004 to simulate taking control of a suspicious merchant vessel during Exercise Clever Sentinel off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily.

During Exercise Clever Sentinel, Italian special forces fan out across Maritime Prepositioning Ship SS Pfc. Eugene A. Obregon’s helicopter deck with weapons raised to simulate seizure and control of the ship. Photo by Lt. Cmdr. Mike Bryant, USN.

Also in April, fleet ocean tug USNS Apache laid the groundwork for a NATO mine countermeasures exercise off the Spanish coast. Apache made history in July when she sailed into St. Petersburg, Russia – and is believed to be the first MSC ship to visit Russia in the command's 55-year history.

Baltic Operations 2004 featured MV 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo and SS Pfc. Eugene A. Obregon playing cat-and-mouse with a multinational cadre of ships near the Polish port of Gdynia. The MSC ships acted as targets for teams of military personnel to locate, track and board suspect merchant vessels.

During 2004, MSC Europe continued to provide vital equipment and supplies for U.S. peacekeeping missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo using ports such as Rijeka, Croatia, and Bourgas, Bulgaria.

Military Sealift Command Central (MSCCENT):
U.S. Naval Support Activity, Bahrain

During FY 2004, MSC Central continued managing uninterrupted deployment/redeployment operations for more than 170 MSC ships in the Persian Gulf. Around-the-clock cargo operations involved every facet of port operations and led to the delivery of more than 141,000 pieces of critical combat cargo supporting every military unit in Iraq.

MSC Central personnel led a successful battle against a major fire aboard USNS Shughart in port at Ash Shuaybah, Kuwait. Maritime Prepositioning Squadron Two and Military Sealift Command Kuwait staff members directed firefighting efforts, minimizing damage to the ship, preventing personnel injuries and ensuring zero damage to any of the 1st Cavalry Division's combat equipment aboard the ship. Off-load operations began immediately following the 48-hour firefighting effort, which allowed crucial combat equipment to be delivered on time to war fighters in Iraq. The professional and aggressive firefighting efforts were a sterling example of joint U.S. Army/Navy and Kuwaiti teamwork and the cooperation that has existed during all port operations in Ash Shuaybah.

MSC Central also provided analysis and advice to senior military commanders on Iraqi port capabilities in Umm Qasr and Al Zubayr as commanders determined the feasibility of MSC ships using those ports.

At the same time, MSC Central provided planning assistance for the expansion of the Kuwait Naval Base.

Military Sealift Command Far East (MSCFE): Yokohama, Japan

MSC Far East has five remote offices at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Guam in the Western Pacific, Korea, in Okinawa, part of southern Japan, and Singapore in the South China Sea. Together, they coordinated 694 visits by U.S. ships, delivered nearly 5,500 pieces of cargo weighing more than 650 tons and awarded more than $41 million in contracts for maintenance activities for submarine tender USS Frank Cable and MSC combat stores ships USNS Concord, USNS San Jose and USNS Niagara Falls.

The MSC Office at Diego Garcia transferred 105 million gallons of fuel from MSC tankers, supervised the on- and off-load of more than 229 tons of supplies from shuttle ships and processed more than 600 supply requests from visiting ships resulting in more than 200 food deliveries worth $2.1 million.

At Guam, the MSC Office participated in exercise TURBOCADS 2004 and provided port engineer and contracting services exceeding $40 million for MSC ships.

MSC Office Korea managed ship visits to 10 ports around the Korean Peninsula and participated in exercises TURBOCADS, Freedom Banner and Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration of Forces.

In Okinawa, the MSC Office coordinated more than 230 ship visits and was heavily involved in several multinational and joint exercises, including Sharem, Balikatan, Cobra Gold, Forest Light, Millennium Edge and Talon Vision.

MSC Office Singapore provided port engineering and contract services as they coordinated 73 port visits for eight MSC ships from the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force and the Special Mission program.

Reserve Programs

MSC has access to nearly 1,400 selected U.S. Naval Reservists assigned to 39 reserve units nationwide. The reservists are managed by the Reserve Programs department at MSC headquarters. During FY 2004, the department mobilized 55 reservists to provide critical watch-standing support for the headquarters command center and to provide MSC's port operations capability for Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Guided missile destroyer USS Howard, left, and fast combat support ship USNS Rainier cruise in formation during an underway replenishment mission. Photo by PH3 Mark J. Rebilas, USN.