U.S. Navy says farewell to combat stores ships

U.S. Navy says farewell to combat stores ships    The U.S. Navy said farewell to the last of its combat stores ships with the decommissioning of the USNS San Jose in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Friday.
   The 39-year-old San Jose will be deactivated from the Navy in January and is the last of eight combat stores ships to deactivate from the Military Sealift Command's Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force. These ships once delivered food, spare parts, mail, fuel and other supplies to Navy vessels at sea.
   San Jose and five other combat stores ships were originally crewed by sailors until they were transferred to the Military Sealift Command in the 1980s and shifted to civil service mariner crews. The others came directly to the Military Sealift Command from the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary in the early 1980s.
   San Jose most recently participated in underway replenishments of Navy combatant ships operating in the Arabian Gulf.
   The combat stores ships will be replaced by the newly built Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo/ammunition ships. To date, eight of the estimated 14 dry cargo/ammunition ships have been delivered to the Navy.