MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND TAKES 9TH NEW RO/RO VESSEL

MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND TAKES 9TH NEW RO/RO VESSEL    The U.S. Military Sealift Command, the ocean transport unit of the Defense Department, has received the ninth new large medium-speed roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) ship.
   The vessel, named the Mendonca, was built by Litton-Avondale Industries in New Orleans. The command’s LMSR program comprises 15 new builds and four conversion LMSRs. Five commercial containerships were converted to transport Army and Marine Corps equipment, with seven new LMSRs under construction at Avondale and eight under construction at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. in San Diego, Calif. Mendonca will be followed by three more LMSRs from Avondale.
   The Military Sealift Command identified the need for the LMSR program after the Persian Gulf War. The 1992 Mobility Requirements Study found a storage of militarily useful transport ships available in the commercial sector.
   “More than 95 percent of all military equipment and supplies needed to support a war or contingency moves via sea,” the command said. “Large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships like Mendonca were developed specifically for transporting oversized combat equipment.”