Military Sealift Command upgrades tanker fleet

Military Sealift Command upgrades tanker fleet    The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command has reconfigured its tanker fleet to more efficiently meet fuel requirements of U.S. forces overseas.
   This seagoing force of government-owned and U.S.-flagged chartered ships has acquired a new chartered ship, Empire State, as two government-owned ships complete their service to the command.
   The newly built, U.S.-flagged Empire State comes under a five-year contract to the Military Sealift Command and will operate worldwide carrying refined petroleum products for the Defense Department, primarily between commercial refineries and Defense storage and distribution facilities. Empire State is owned and operated by a private shipping company under contract to the Military Sealift Command.
   Built at General Dynamics, NASSCO in San Diego, the double-hulled Empire State is 600 feet long and has a cargo-carrying capacity of about 331,000 barrels. The ship’s construction was completed in July, at which time the ship went to work for the Military Sealift Command under a short-term charter.

The Military Sealift Command's new chartered ship, the Empire State.

   A second State-class tanker is under construction at NASSCO and is expected to come under charter to the command in early 2011.
   Two of the Military Sealift Command's four government-owned tankers transferred out of service Oct. 1. USNS Paul Buck and USNS Samuel L. Cobb began their service with the command in the mid-1980s, along with three other new-construction T-5 tankers that came under long-term charter to the command in 1985 and 1986. In 2003, the Military Sealift Command purchased four of those ships — Buck, Cobb, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella and USNS Richard G. Matthiesen. Since then, these ships have served as the core of command’s tanker fleet along with a chartered shallow-draft tanker.
   The deactivated Cobb and Buck were transferred to the U.S. Maritime Administration’s National Defense Reserve Fleet, which comprises about 30 dry cargo ships and tankers kept in reserve for possible activation and use in support of national defense and national emergencies.
   Gianella transferred to Military Sealift Command’s Maritime Prepositioning Force in 2009 and Matthiesen will remain in service with the command until early 2011, when the ship will join the National Defense Reserve Fleet.
   In fiscal year 2010, the Military Sealift Command carried 1.5 billion gallons of petroleum products worldwide in support of Defense operations ranging from delivering fuel to combat forces operating in Iraq to replenishing McMurdo Station, Antarctica and Thule Air Force Base in Pituffik, Greenland.
   The Military Sealift Command operates about 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea globally and move military equipment and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces.