A new dimension of strength

Sea Power, May 2003 by Maraoui, Andre

Strategic Sealift Program Provides Outsized Capabilities for Future Conflicts

The past decade has seen dramatic changes around the world. Throughout this period, the Strategic Sealift Program, under the Program Executive Office Ships, has quietly designed, built, and delivered the largest and most capable roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) vessels in the world. These large, medium-speed, RO/ROs (LMSRs), whose conversion and construction were managed by the Strategic Sealift Program, are vital to carrying out the U.S.-led global war on terrorism and to the effort to remove weapons of mass destruction from the control of hostile nations such as Iraq.

All but one of the 19 LMSRs are now operating under the direction of the Military Sealift Command (MSC-the sea-transportation provider for the Department of Defense)-and moving the U.S. military's tanks, trucks, and other essential cargoes around the globe, on a 24/7 basis.

Today's Strategic Sealift Program grew out of the U.S. military's experiences during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, when the U.S. Marine Corps had much of its equipment already prepositioned in ships overseas, but most U.S. Army equipment had to be moved from land bases-both in CONUS (the Continental United States) and overseas-by surge and commercial sealift. The decades-long decline of the U.S.-Flag Merchant Marine also led to an increased reliance on foreign-flag shipping for the transport of vital U.S. military cargo.

A congressionally mandated Mobility Requirements Study carried out by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in the early 1990s identified the need for additional military sealift capability. The JCS study, which focused primarily on the Department of Defense transportation infrastructure during the Persian Gulf War, identified a shortfall of three million square feet of surge sealift capability and a shortfall of two million square feet of the prepositioned sealift capability needed to carry Army combat and support equipment. The plans developed to remedy the problem called for the construction of 19 LMSRs that would provide five million additional square feet of surge and prepositioned sealift capacity. The acquisition strategy for the Strategic Sealift Program was carried out in three phases:

Phase 0 (Initial Design) began with the award of contracts to nine U.S. shipyards for initial concept designs in September of 1991. The Navy also decided that the vessels would be built to commercial standards under American Bureau of Shipping standards and that U.S. Coast Guard-licensed civilian mariners, rather than uniformed Navy crews, would operate the vessels. The ships would be constructed by: (a) converting commercial container ships; and (b) designing and building entirely new vessels.

Phase I (Engineering Design) began when a request for proposals (RFP) was released in September 1992 for conversion engineering design. The RFP for new-construction engineering design was released in October 1992.

Phase II (Detailed Design and Construction) was initiated on 30 July 1993, when National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), San Diego, and Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), Norfolk, were awarded contracts to convert existing commercial container ships into LMSRs. Contracts for construction of new vessels were awarded in September 1993 to NASSCO and to Avondale Industries (now Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Avondale Operations), New Orleans.

Capabilities by Design

From the outset, the ships built under the Strategic Sealift Program were designed to work in concert with both existing and planned military transportation assets such as the airlift capability provided by the Air Force's C-5 and C-17 transport aircraft. The LMSRs also were designed: (a) with enough flexibility to carry every type and size of military vehicle in the U.S. inventory from frontline M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles to self-propelled artillery and trucks, HMMWVs (high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, or Humvees), and even helicopters; and (b) with the capability of loading and/or discharging these vehicles at virtually any port facility, from the most modern to the most austere.

They also were designed to carry very large amounts of cargo. A single LMSR can carry, for example, the outsized air and ground vehicles and other equipment and supplies needed by:

An Air Assault Battalion Task Force

32 Helicopters

1,100 Vehicles

100,000 Square Feet of Stores and Supplies

or

An Armored Battalion Task Force

58 M1A2 Abrams Tanks (with full combat loads of fuel and ammo)

6 Bradleys

950 Support Vehicles

100,000 Square Feet of Stores and Supplies

or

Prepositioned Forces

60 Bradleys

650 Other Vehicles

100,000 Square Feet of Stores and Supplies

Collectively, the ships built and converted under the Strategic Sealift Program can carry or preposition over five million square feet of military cargo. This translates into a military force of more than 1,100 M1A2 Abrams tanks, over 100 Bradleys, and over 18,000 support vehicles-along with the supplies, food, and spare parts needed to sustain this force for an extended period of time.