Military Sealift Command receives new cargo vessel

Military Sealift Command receives new cargo vessel General Dynamic's San Diego-based National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. delivered the military's newest dry cargo/ammunition ship to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command on Tuesday.
   The 'Sacagawea' is the second of nine ships of its class being built by NASSCO under six U.S. Navy design and construction contracts valued at about $2.8 billion.
   The ship is one of a new class of Combat Logistics Force ships designed to deliver ammunition, provisions, stores, spare parts, potable water and petroleum products to the Navy's carrier and expeditionary strike groups and other naval forces.
   Specifically designed to support forward area Navy deployments, the 'Sacagawea' can operate independently for extended periods at sea while providing underway replenishment services.
   The new CLF class will replace aging, single-mission ships such as Kilauea-class ammunition ships and Mars- and Sirius-class combat stores ships that are nearing the end of their service lives.
      The Military Sealift Command operates about 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, chart ocean bottoms, conduct undersea surveillance, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military equipment and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces.