The crew of MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS Rappahannock prepares for an underway resupply of amphibious dock landing ship USS Mount Rushmore in the Arabian Gulf in August. Photo by Gillian Brigham. Inset: MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS Rappahannock

ilitary Sealift Fleet Support Command - Norfolk, Va.

Military Sealift Fleet Support Command, a subordinate command to MSC, is headquartered in Norfolk, Va. MSFSC crews, trains, equips and maintains the more than 40 government-owned/government-operated ships of Military Sealift Command. Six MSFSC ship support units provide a regional presence in Italy, Bahrain, Singapore, Japan, San Diego and Guam.

MSFSC executed approximately 75 contracts totaling $138 million in FY 2007 to maintain MSC’s government-owned/government-operated ships. Some of the larger contracts were for the post-shipyard availabilities of MSC’s new dry cargo/ammunition ships, USNS Lewis and Clark and USNS Sacagawea, and for the regular overhaul and dry docking of the fast combat support ships USNS Rainier and USNS Arctic and fleet replenishment oilers USNS Patuxent and USNS Kanawha. MSFSC provided “cradle to grave” contract supervision, which included on-site coordination for all ship repair availabilities.

MSFSC recruited, hired and provided training for 739 new civil service mariners, or CIVMARs, during FY 2007 and brought the CIVMAR workforce total to almost 4,990. Over the next two years, MSFSC expects to hire 1,000 additional CIVMARs to crew new ships coming into service with MSC, including new-construction ships and existing Navy ships transferred to MSC for CIVMAR crewing.

Civil service mariners face flames during fire-fighting training at MSFSC’s West Coast Training Center in San Diego. Photo by Joe Cobb.

Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic - Norfolk, Va.

During MSC hospital ship USNS Comfort’s deployment to Latin America, civil service Carpenter Michael Nanartowich works with a Navy SEABEE to build a sidewalk in Ecuador that will improve building access for the handicapped. Photo by MC2 Steven King.

Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic maintains operational control over MSC ships that transport equipment, fuel, supplies and ammunition in the Western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to sustain U.S. forces. SEALOGLANT also provides logistics support to the U.S. Navy’s Second Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, the naval component command of U.S. Southern Command.

SEALOGLANT continued to play a crucial role in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terrorism during FY 2007, providing oversight for loading and discharging 4.4 million square feet of military equipment and cargo in their area of responsibility.

SEALOGLANT marine transportation specialists from both its headquarters in Norfolk, Va., and its representative offices in Earle, N.J.; Sunny Point, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Beaumont, Texas; and Port Canaveral and Jacksonville, Fla., provided operational, administrative, material and logistics support for MSC ships and coordinated associated cargo operations.

While in the Gulf of Mexico in August, MSC tanker USNS Lawrence H. Gianella rescued 13 Cubans adrift in a small boat. Photo by civil service master Capt. Robert Lee.

In FY 2007, MSC ships under SEALOGLANT’s operational control delivered more than 228 million gallons of fuel and more than 40,000 pallets of supplies during more than 1,600 underway replenishments at sea. To accomplish this task, MSC vessels steamed more than 1 million miles. In addition to re-supplying the U.S. Navy fleet, MSC ships supported allied naval ships from the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Canada, Poland, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Portugal.

MSC ships under SEALOGLANT operational control participated in a number of Navy exercises throughout the year, including joint task force exercises and operational force exercises such as Neptune Warrior off the coast of Scotland and New Horizons in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility. See the exercise table in the appendix for more details on exercises.

In preparation for hospital ship USNS Comfort’s 120-day medical and humanitarian tour of South America and the Caribbean, the ship arrived in Norfolk, Va., on May 31 to load personnel and supplies for the deployment. Upon completion of the mission, medical personnel aboard the ship had treated more than 98,000 patients from the 12 countries visited.

Rescue and salvage ship USNS Grasp hoists bundling equipment left behind by Naval Special Warfare boats that were air dropped into the Atlantic Ocean during a joint exercise in May. Photo by MCSN Eddie D. Harrison.

In July, MV American Tern, an MSC-chartered dry cargo ship, and MV Marvea, an MSC-chartered tanker under SEALOGLANT control, carried 1.5 million pounds of food, supplies and equipment and 8.9 million gallons of fuel to Thule Air Base, Greenland, for the annual Operation Pacer Goose re-supply mission.

July 11 marked the historic first deployment for USNS Lewis and Clark, the first of MSC’s new dry cargo/ammunition ships. Lewis and Clark got underway from Norfolk, Va., on a six-month mission in support of the Navy’s 5th and 6th Fleets.

Braving rough seas in June 2007, fleet replenishment oiler USNS Kanawha participated in the rescue of 16 crew members from the sinking North Korean cargo ship MV Jai Laxmai in the Arabian Sea.

While in the Gulf of Mexico on August 2, MSC tanker USNS Lawrence H. Gianella rescued 13 Cuban nationals adrift in a small boat after crew members aboard Gianella spotted the craft and its occupants signaling distress.

Fleet ocean tug USNS Apache towed ex-USS ships?Douglas, Saipan, Shreveport, LaSalle and Yorktown from their decommissioning sites to disposal or storage sites. Rescue and salvage ship USNS Grapple towed ex-USS ships?Salt Lake City and Saipan?following their decommissioning. Grapple also conducted salvage operations and diver training. USNS Grasp, another rescue and salvage ship, supported Exercise Flexible Leader 2007 off the west coast of Africa in May and participated in salvage operations in La Madallena, Italy, in August.

An inshore boat unit team assigned to Naval Expeditionary Combat Command boards MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser during a visit, board, search and seizure drill as part of Seahawk 2007. Seahawk is a joint maritime security exercise involving forces from the Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. Photo by MC1 George Labidou.

Sealift Logistics Command Pacific - San Diego

Sealift Logistics Command Pacific, or SEALOGPAC, exercises operational control over MSC ships operating in U.S. 3rd Fleet’s area of responsibility in the eastern Pacific. SEALOGPAC’s combat logistics force ships delivered food, fuel, supplies and ammunition to U.S. Navy combatants, allowing them to remain at sea for extended periods. Other ships under SEALOGPAC’s control transported vital military cargo to forces ashore overseas and supported other Department of Defense missions.

As FY 2007 began, fleet replenishment oilers USNS Henry J. Kaiser and USNS Guadalupe were the duty oilers for Navy combatant ships operating off the coast of Southern California. Guadalupe later transited to Pearl Harbor to be the duty oiler for the mid-Pacific operating area. Fleet replenishment oiler USNS Yukon arrived in the 3rd Fleet area in December 2007 to become the duty oiler in Hawaii and then joined Henry J. Kaiser in San Diego for the remainder of the fiscal year.

For the sixth consecutive year, Henry J. Kaiser and Guadalupe served as at-sea training ships for 12 maritime apprentice students from a public school in the San Diego area. This unique training program partners the MSC ships with the State of California Regional Occupational Program, Mar Vista High School and a U.S. Coast Guard-approved training contractor to provide a path for high school students to earn their Coast Guard documents and embark on an MSC ship during the summer as U.S. government employees to gain hands-on experience in ship operations and watch standing. Apprentices who successfully complete the challenging training regimen can compete for employment by MSC or with U.S. maritime companies.

MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS Guadalupe pumps fuel to aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (front) and guided missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton (back) in the Pacific. Photo by MCSN Stephen Rowe.

Fleet ocean tugs USNS Navajo and USNS Sioux conducted training support for Navy mobile underwater diving units in the eastern Pacific and conducted tows of several submarines and decommissioned Navy ships to the Pacific Northwest, Pearl Harbor and Guam. Sioux towed ex-frigate Knox from Suisan Bay, Calif., to Pearl Harbor, where Navajo took over the tow and sailed to Guam. The tow never entered Pearl Harbor’s environmentally sensitive waters, eliminating the potential introduction of non-native marine species. Sioux then towed ex-cruiser Jouett from Pearl Harbor to Guam. Both ex-Navy ships were subsequently sunk as part of Exercise Valiant Shield 2007.

One of Sealift Logistics Command Pacific’s most critical sealift missions was Operation Deep Freeze, the annual re-supply of the National Science Foundation’s research station in Antarctica, a mission supported by MSC since 1955. In November 2006, MSC-chartered ship MV American Tern loaded bulk and containerized cargo at Port Hueneme, Calif., and sailed to McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, to discharge more than 29,000 tons of equipment, food and scientific instruments. The ship returned with ice core samples that provided scientists studying global climate change with information about the composition of the atmosphere over the past several thousand years. The ship also brought back all refuse and waste products produced by the research station over the winter. In addition, ice-hardened MSC tanker USNS Paul Buck off-loaded 6.8 million gallons of fuel for vehicles, aircraft and generators.

MSC-chartered dry cargo and container ship MV American Tern is off-loaded Feb. 4 during Operation Deep Freeze, the annual resupply mission for McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Photo by CDR Vincent Clifton.

Sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion One off-load Ready Reserve Force heavy-lift ship SS Cape Mohican for a simulated disaster relief exercise in Guatemala. Photo by YN3 Jessica L. Bidwell.

MSC’s large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, or LMSRs, were involved in several missions in the SEALOGPAC area of responsibility in FY 2007. USNS Shughart transported Operation Iraqi Freedom retrograde cargo from the Middle East to Alaska and San Diego. USNS Soderman loaded 256,000 square feet of cargo in Tacoma, Wash., in March bound for Kuwait and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In June, USNS Watson sailed to Naval Magazine Indian Island in Washington and then to San Diego to off-load Operation Iraqi Freedom redeployment equipment. USNS Seay arrived in San Diego in August to discharge 25th Infantry Division equipment.

Ships activated from the Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Force, or RRF, were also busy. Heavy-lift ship SS Cape Mohican supported a joint-logistics-over-the-shore exercise in January 2007, deploying to Nicaragua with cargo and equipment for humanitarian assistance projects. In May, roll-on/roll-off ship SS Cape Orlando transported U.S. Army cargo from Alameda, Calif.,

Pierside at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser is dressed out for the SEALOGPAC change of command, where Navy Capt. David Kiehl assumed command from Navy Capt. Hart Sebring in July. Photo by Rosemary Heiss.

to Ash Shuaybah, Kuwait. Modular cargo delivery system ship SS Cape Gibson was also activated in Alameda to support U.S. Navy Reserve crew training and to provide an additional underway replenishment training ship in 3rd Fleet area of responsibility.

MSC-chartered ship MV Global Patriot moved ammunition from Military Ocean Terminal Concord in Washington to Guam, while MSC-chartered ship MV CEC Christobal stopped in San Diego in September to load U.S. Navy small boats for delivery to Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines.

Two new Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo/ammunition ships joined the MSC fleet in FY 2007. USNS Sacagawea was delivered in February, and USNS Alan Shepard was delivered in July. They are the second and third of 14 such ships planned for delivery to MSC over the next several years.

On July 6, 2007, Navy Capt. David L. Kiehl relieved Navy Capt. L. Hart Sebring as Commander, Sealift Logistics Command Pacific in a change of command ceremony onboard USNS Henry J. Kaiser at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego.

Sealift Logistics Command Europe - Naples, Italy

Sealift Logistics Command Europe is co-located in Naples, Italy, with Commander, Naval Forces Europe and Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet, or CNE-C6F, headquarters.

MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS Patuxent simulates a high-value unit, being chased by one force while another protects it during Exercise Neptune Warrior 2006 off the Scottish coast. The exercise included the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Greece. Photo by Arnold J. Burkett.

SEALOGEUR is the single at-sea logistics and strategic sealift provider in Europe and Africa, an area of operations that covers more than 20 million square nautical miles of ocean, touches three continents and encompasses 67 percent of the earth’s coastline, 30 percent of its landmass and 23 percent of the world’s population.

SEALOGEUR oversees the movement of fuel, food, spare parts, ammunition and combat equipment throughout the U.S. European Command and soon-to-be U.S. African Command, or AFRICOM, area of operations.

LEFT: U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Robert Bradtke (left) gets a tour of MSC Maritime Prepositioning Ship USNS Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat from the ship’s civilian master Capt. David Scott in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in February. Photo by Gillian Brigham. BELOW: MSC Maritime Prepositioning Ship USNS Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat.

In addition to his SEALOGEUR duties, SEALOGEUR’s commander is triple-hatted as Commander of Task Group 63, the commander of all 6th Fleet air and sea logistics assets, and as commander of Task Group 60.5, CNE-C6F’s newly established Southeast Africa Task Group. On an average day, more than 14 ships and eight aircraft report to SEALOGEUR’s commander.

In FY 2007, SEALOGEUR handled 375 separate ship visits and port calls in 77 different locations. Command personnel coordinated 104 transits through the Strait of Gibraltar and supported seven MSC ships participating in U.S. and NATO military exercises. See the exercise table in the appendix for more information on exercises.

Ships under SEALOGEUR’s operational control delivered nearly 2.5 million square feet of combat cargo and moved nearly 270 million gallons of fuel to U.S. Navy bases and Department of Defense fuel depots in theater in FY 2007.

Fleet replenishment oiler USNS Patuxent deployed twice to the European theater during the year. Patuxent participated in NATO Exercise Neptune Warrior held off the coast of Scotland in October and November 2006. During the exercise, Patuxent acted as a high-value unit being tracked by exercise participants and conducted 43 underway replenishments for 11 ships from the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Greece.

Patuxent returned to SEALOGEUR in March for a four-month deployment supporting 6th Fleet operations as the region’s duty oiler. While in theater, Patuxent supported combatant ships in the Gulf of Guinea and Mediterranean Sea and participated in three multinational military exercises, providing fuel and supplies to navy ships from 13 nations. The ship also hosted maritime interdiction operation boarding teams, enabling the teams to practice their visit, board, search and seizure techniques.

SEALOGEUR ships and personnel continued their support of the rotation of U.S. and coalition troops and equipment into and out of Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East. In December 2006, large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship USNS Seay re-deployed 40,000 square feet of U.S. Army 1st Airborne Division combat cargo, loading it in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In February, Ready Reserve Force roll-on/roll-off ship MV Cape Washington loaded 38 helicopters and 40,000 square feet of U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division equipment being re-deployed to the United States after its tour of duty on the front lines of the global war on terrorism.

High school students from Turku, Finland, tour MSC oceanographic survey ship USNS Henson in May. Henson’s port call in Finland was the first by a U.S. Navy ship in more than two years. Photo by Gillian Brigham.

Surveyors from the Naval Oceanographic Office launch transponders from the stern of MSC oceanographic survey ship USNS Henson in the Baltic Sea. Henson, which is designed to map the ocean floor, and its crew of merchant mariners and civilian scientists collected survey data on behalf of multinational forces participating in Exercise BALTOPS 2007. Photo from the Naval Oceanographic Office.

Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron One commodore Capt. Clay Saunders hosted a visit from U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Robert Bradtke in Dubrovnik, Croatia, aboard USNS Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat in February. The ship also hosted U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Stanley Davis Phillips during a port visit to Tallinn, Estonia, in June following the ship’s participation in Exercise Baltic Operations 2007.

MPS ship USNS Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat, fleet replenishment oiler USNS Patuxent and oceanographic survey ship USNS Henson also participated in Baltic Operations 2007, the Baltic Sea’s largest military exercise, held in June. This year, 25 ships, two submarines and aircraft from 11 countries collaborated in the exercise that focused on maritime interdiction operations and search and rescue missions.

Following Exercise Baltic Operations, USNS Henson became the first U.S. Navy ship to visit Finland in more than two years. While there, Henson participated in an underway oceanographic survey demonstration with Finnish sailors and scientists and Finnish survey ship Geomari. Henson also held ship tours for nearly 100 high school students, several Finnish government and military officials and U.S. Ambassador to Finland Marilyn Ware.

In May and June, 6th Fleet’s command ship, USS Mount Whitney, spent a month in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean participating in Exercise Flexible Leader 2007. During this underway period, the ship and its combined U.S. Navy sailor and MSC civil service mariner crew trained to respond to real world contingencies under 6th Fleet command and control. This training was designed to increase the speed and cohesiveness of 6th Fleet’s response to potential contingency situations in Europe and Africa. As a part of Flexible Leader 2007, Mount Whitney also collaborated with MSC prepositioning ship MV TSgt. John A. Chapman and MSC rescue and salvage ship USNS Grapple on a series of scenario-based exercises.

Sealift Logistics Command Central - Manama, Bahrain

A helicopter from amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard picks up cargo from fleet replenishment oiler USNS Rappahannock’s flight deck during a vertical replenishment operation in the Persian Gulf. Photo by Gillian Brigham.

Sealift Logistics Command Central, or SEALOGCENT, represents Military Sealift Command in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. This includes the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. SEALOGCENT provides reliable and efficient sealift, combat logistics forces, special mission ships and maritime services to meet U.S. Central Command requirements.

SEALOGCENT’s commander is double-hatted as commander of Task Force 53, the operational commander of all U.S. 5th Fleet air and sea logistics assets.

The command’s operational logistics support was a critical factor to 5th Fleet operations in FY 2007. Combat logistics force ships under SEALOGCENT’s control conducted 760 underway replenishments at sea involving the delivery of more than 102 million gallons of fuel.

A Navy sailor assigned to an embarked security detachment checks the ammunition inventory for his unit prior to embarking aboard MSC-chartered Condock V. The sailors provided security for the ship's transit to Bahrain as part of Operation Vigilant Mariner. Photo by Paul Farley.

Navy helicopters provided logistics support to afloat assets, moving more than 1,500 tons of cargo and mail and 4,000 passengers. Round-the-clock logistical support services were provided to the war fighters throughout the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. In all, SEALOGCENT coordinated the movement of more than 20,000 tons of cargo throughout the region.

During FY 2007, SEALOGCENT coordinated the delivery of 13 million square feet of combat equipment and more than 765 million gallons of fuel for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The majority of these cargo operations were supported by six ports in five different countries throughout the region.

Operation Vigilant Mariner provided force protection aboard MSC vessels to defend against waterborne and land-based terrorist attacks in the U.S. Central Command operating area. In FY 2007, SEALOGCENT deployed 159 embarked security teams for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. These teams protected more than 1,000 transits through the Strait of Hormuz, Babel Mandeb and the Suez Canal, and worked closely with carrier and amphibious strike groups, multi-national coalition warships, merchant vessels and the U.S. Defense Attache Office in Cairo, Egypt.

Sealift Logistics Command Far East - Singapore

Indonesian army vehicles repainted with U.N. peacekeeping force markings sit on a pier outside Jakarta waiting to be loaded aboard MSC-chartered SS Wilson, for transport to Lebanon in November 2006. Photo by Ed Baxter.

The mission of Sealift Logistics Command Far East, or SEALOGFE, is to safely and efficiently operate Military Sealift Command-controlled ships in support of U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. 7th Fleet. SEALOGFE is co-located with Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific/Task Force 73 at Sembawang Wharves in Singapore and reports to Military Sealift Command headquarters in Washington, D.C.

During FY 2007, SEALOGFE managed a daily average of 48 ships representing all of MSC’s missions in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility, supporting all branches of the U.S. military and participating in major theater exercises and humanitarian missions. See the exercise table in the appendix for more details on exercises.

MSC-chartered ship SS Wilson loaded 200 pieces of peacekeeping equipment at Jakarta, Indonesia, in early November 2006, as hundreds of Indonesian troops deployed for duty with the United Nations’ interim force in Lebanon.

Oceanographic survey ship USNS Mary Sears deployed to Indonesian waters in early January 2007, searching for a missing commercial airliner. Mary Sears located a large amount of scattered debris from the Adam Air 737 aircraft off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.

A Navy helicopter from afloat prepositioning ship USNS Gunnery Sgt. Fred W. Stockham prepares to rescue the stranded Taiwanese-flagged vessel Yun Fa Zoi, which ran aground on a reef near the Solomon Islands in April. Photo by MC2 Andrew Meyers.

Maritime Prepositioning Ship USNS Gunnery Sgt. Fred W. Stockham and its assigned merchant mariners and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel sailed to the Solomon Islands in April 2007 after a deadly tsunami ravaged the tiny Pacific-island nation. They delivered more than 28,000 pounds of food, medical supplies, tools for repair and maintenance, tarps for shelter and mosquito nets. Stockham’s crew also rescued 20 people from a Taiwanese-flagged freighter that ran aground on a coral reef near the Solomons later that month.

In late April and early May of 2007, two MSC-chartered vessels teamed up to deliver hundreds of U.S. Marines and their equipment to exercise Cobra Gold in Thailand. Integrated tug/barge Strong American off-loaded more than 110 pieces of Marine Corps cargo, and high-speed vessel Westpac Express brought more than 300 Marines and their gear to Thailand from their bases in Okinawa.

In August of 2007, Maritime Prepositioning Ships USNS 1st Lt. Baldomero Lopez and MV Pvt. Franklin J. Phillips played roles as suspicious merchant vessels during multi-national exercise Southeast Asia Cooperation Against Terrorism. Both Lopez and Phillips were boarded by forces from four Southeast Asian countries.

MSC Maritime Prepositioning Ship MV Pvt. Franklin J. Phillips participated in the Southeast Asia Cooperation Against Terrorism exercise in August, which involved navies from the United States, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines.

SEALOGFE participated in two major Korea-defense exercises. During Exercise Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration, more than 60 MSC civilian and uniformed personnel simulated management of a massive influx of sealift ships at the South Korean ports of Busan, Mokpo and Pohang.

More than 50 MSC reservists joined U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and Republic of Korea forces to form a Combined Sealift Coordination Center during exercise Ulchi Focus Lens, held in late August 2007.

The Honorable Patricia Herbold, U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, joined Rear Adm. Robert Reilly, MSC commander, and Capt. Susan Dunlap, SEALOGFE commander, at a ceremony July 31, to celebrate the command’s one-year anniversary in Singapore.