MSC Transformation Strategies Serve as Model for Sea Power 21

Sea Power, Oct 2004 by Kime, Patricia

When Military Sealift Command's (MSC) fast supply combat ship USNS Supply deployed with the George Washington carrier battle group for Operation Enduring Freedom, it was underway for six months, replenishing Navy vessels during a high operations tempo.

The Supply, which was transferred to MSC in July 2001 after being decommissioned by the Navy, returned to the United States in December 2002 for two weeks, then redeployed for four months, providing the same support during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

The ship's about-face, coupled with the fact that it deployed with a crew of civilian mariners roughly one-third the size of earlier Navy crews, demonstrates the capabilities MSC brings to the Navy as it transforms under Sea Power 21, according to MSC Commander Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III.

Some of the tenets of Sea Power 21 - Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark's plan to revamp the service to meet 21 st-century national security requirements - including projecting offensive power, establishing defenses and striving to obtain operational independence with sea bases, can benefit from MSC's proven manning models and efficiencies, and its culture of embracing new ideas, Brewer told Sea Power.

MSC has scored a number of successes in the past year. It completed the largest, fastest combat cargo movement since World War II for OIF. It took ownership of the former USS Bridge, the fourth Supply-class fast combat ship, and transported 10.8 million square feet of supplies during the second phase of OIF.

It also undertook an experiment to transition a portion of a ship's crew to civilian mariners aboard the Seventh Fleet's command ship USS Coronado. MSC mariners took over the vessel's basic shipboard functions, including navigation, machinery operations, maintenance and repair, freeing up sailors for other duties or assignments. Navy personnel retained operation of the command, control, communications, computers and intelligence equipment suites; helicopter detachment; weapons systems and other command/mission capabilities. The Coronado also maintained its commissioned status.

In the next two to three years, MSC will continue to add responsibilities, starting in December with the command's takeover of the soon-to-be Sixth Fleet's flagship USS Mount Whitney.

A final report on the Coronado experiment is expected in October, but the Navy has decided to employ the same manning strategy it's using on Coronado with the Mount Whitney. The ship will be transferred from Second Fleet to Sixth Fleet to replace the USS La Salle. It will then enter a shipyard for maintenance and adaptation, being fitted to accommodate MSC's civilian mariners, who live aboard the ship.

"The reports we are getting out of Coronado say everything is going well. Everyone is being wowed by that program," said MSC spokeswoman Marge Holtz.

The Mount Whitney takeover is likely to save the Navy $8 million annually, Brewer said. The savings come from automating certain ship functions, performing "predictive maintenance" (using monitoring systems to predict what's wearing out and fixing it before it becomes a problem) and using a smaller, more experienced crew.

"The only job our mariners have is the ship. It's like having a ship full of E-6s and above. There's no one you need to train," Brewer said.

On the horizon for the Navy and MSC is the latter's possession of the salvage ships USS Grapple and USS Grasp. By fiscal year 2006, the vessels will operate as USNS ships, carrying crews of 25 civilian mariners and detachments of 16 to 20 Navy divers and salvage personnel. The Navy currently uses 100 sailors, including the dive teams, to man each vessel, service officials said.

"The mission will belong to the sailors, but we'll have a full MSC model for ship operations," Brewer said.

MSC also is seeking to change the way in which the equipment and supplies it carries are tracked and delivered.

Working under U.S. Transportation Command and the Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, MSC is striving for "total asset visibility," knowing where an item is, whether it's being delivered, is needed or must be ordered, Brewer said. The old ideal for tracking and monitoring was bar-code scanning. But radio frequency identification (RFID) tags - an automated identification system that uses a scanning device to pick up data from small chips on the equipment - is faster, more efficient and thorough. Transportation Command officials say they believe RFID is the preferred tracking method of the near future.

MSC already carries some equipment labeled with RFID tags, the same technology seen commercially in automobile tracking systems and microchips for pets. In the future, RFID tags will be on every piece of equipment carried by MSC, Brewer predicted, and it will be tracked with stationary monitors or even satellites.

"You'll be able to tell what the equipment is and where it is any time of day," he said.

Other advances in logistics and delivery include development of a "selective discharge system" that will be a shipboard automated warehouse and is key to MSC's role in Navy sea basing, Brewer said. With sea basing, commanders will turn to an ocean-based facility - either one large vessel or a group of vessels - and request equipment for rapid delivery on the battlefield.