U.S. ship completes Cam Ranh Bay visit

U.S. ship completes Cam Ranh Bay visit    The U.S. Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Richard E. Byrd left Cam Ranh Bay in southern Vietnam on Tuesday, marking the end of a historic visit, the first by a U.S. Navy ship to the port in 38 years.
   Byrd spent seven days at Cam Ranh Shipyard for routine maintenance and repairs that included underwater hull cleaning, polishing of the ship’s propeller, repairing shipboard piping, and overhaul of the salt water cooling system that keeps the ship’s engines cool and runs the air conditioning.
   Cam Ranh Bay is 180 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon. From 1965 to 1973, Cam Ranh Bay was one of the largest in-country U.S. military facilities during the Vietnam War. The United States normalized diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995.
   Military Sealift Command's Ship Support Unit Singapore routinely contracts shipyards throughout Southeast Asia to conduct maintenance and repairs on the command’s Combat Logistics Force ships. The Navy saves time and money by using multiple commercial shipyards throughout the region, reducing transit times to more distant shipyards, and thereby also reducing the amount of time these ships are off-mission.
   Cam Ranh Bay is a deepwater and sheltered harbor that can accommodate larger naval vessels with deep drafts. Byrd, which is part of the U.S. 7th Fleet's primary supply vessels operating in the Western Pacific, measures more than 680 feet long and displaces more than 41,000 tons.
   Byrd’s repairs in Vietnam are the third such repairs on Military Sealift Command vessels in that country over the last two years:
   ' Rescue and salvage ship USNS Safeguard completed repairs at Saigon Shipmarin Shipyard near Ho Chi Minh City in September 2009.
   ' Cam Ranh Shipyard performed maintenance on Byrd in March of last year, but the work was performed at Van Phong Bay, located about 80 miles north of Cam Ranh Bay.
   Byrd is one of the Military Sealift Command’s 11 dry cargo/ammunition ships that operate worldwide delivering ammunition, provisions, stores, spare parts, potable water and petroleum products to U.S. Navy ships at sea.
   The command operates about 110 noncombatant, U.S. merchant mariner-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world, and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and allies.