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Seafarers-contracted ships to provide relief to Africa (3/20)

The U.S. Military Sealift Command has issued the following news release concerning a humanitarian exercise involving (among other vessels) the SIU-crewed USNS 2nd LT John P. Bobo and USNS LCPL Roy M. Wheat. The release is dated March 20 and also is available on MSC's web site HERE. Military Sealift Command ships prepare for sea-basing exercise in Africa Military Sealift Command ships USNS 2nd LT John P. Bobo and USNS LCPL Roy M. Wheat arrived off the coast of Monrovia, Liberia, in the Gulf of Guinea March 20, to participate in a sea-basing and humanitarian aid distribution exercise in conjunction with U.S. Marines and Africa Partnership Station ships USS Fort McHenry and HSV-2 Swift. Bobo and Wheat are U.S. Navy cargo ships that are part of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron One, or MPSRON One, one of three squadrons that preposition U.S. military equipment in strategic locations at-sea for rapid delivery ashore in response to military or humanitarian crises. These squadrons are commanded by a U.S. Navy captain with an embarked military staff, while the ships themselves are crewed by U.S. merchant mariners under contract to MSC. HSV-2 Swift, a high-speed vessel, is chartered by MSC, and is operated and crewed by U.S. Navy sailors. Africa Partnership Station, or APS, is a U.S. Naval Forces Europe initiative that provides maritime training to partner nations in West and Central Africa aboard U.S. Navy ships operating in the region. During the late March exercise, Bobo, Wheat, Swift and Fort McHenry will congregate off the coast of Monrovia, Liberia. Sailors embarked aboard Bobo and Wheat will assemble the MPSRON’s Improved Navy Lighterage System, or INLS, which is a roll-on/roll-off discharge platform comprised of barges and ferries that allow ships to off-load cargo at sea and deliver it ashore when traditional harbor facilities are unavailable. Once the INLS is assembled, cargo from Bobo, Wheat and Fort McHenry, including trucks, equipment and humanitarian aid supplies, will be transferred at sea from Bobo to Swift while the high speed vessel is docked on the discharge platform. Swift will then ferry these supplies to Monrovia where they will be delivered to a number of schools and medical clinics in Liberia. The exercise, which will showcase the real world application of the Navy’s seabasing concept, also gives the ships, sailors and Marines involved, the opportunity to train alongside Liberian military personnel who will be participating in the operation. “We are excited to be able to participate in APS,” said Capt. Clay Saunders, MPSRON One’s commander. “The opportunity to validate our seabase concept and exercise our ship-to-shore capabilities while supporting a non-exercise humanitarian aid operation really demonstrates the broad capabilities of our prepositioned force.” MSC operates more than 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that deliver combat equipment to troops, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world, re-supply Navy ships at sea, and conduct specialized missions for the Department of Defense. ###