MSC commemorates mariners past and present
Fleet ocean tug USNS Mohawk and tall ship Niagara Falls flanked the pier where Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Donald Pilling, USN, and the U.S. Navy Band helped MSC honor the sacrifices of the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Merchant mariners fulfill a unique role for MSC; the Navy command operates about 110 noncombatant ships daily around the world, all crewed by civilians -- both civil service mariners and contract mariners.
"Merchant mariners have been the cornerstone of Military Sealift Command for 50 years," said Adm. Pilling. "But their service to defense sealift, indeed, to defense of the nation, goes back 225 years to 1775."
In 1775, John Glover, a colonel in the Continental Army and also a sea captain and merchant, offered the charter of his schooner Hannah, to Gen. George Washington to capture unarmed British supply vessels bringing food and munitions for the British.
The Americans had successfully cut off land-supply routes to the British in Boston, and Hannah and other American merchant ships helped cut off the sea-supply route and divert British supplies to the Continental Army.
Ever since, the U.S. Merchant Marine has been delivering the goods for American forces in times of war. In World War II, the U.S. Merchant Marine's per capita fatality rate was higher than every U.S. service except the Marine Corps.
MSC mariners have also delivered the goods for U.S. humanitarian missions. After Hurricanes Georges and Mitch devastated the Caribbean and Central America in 1998, MSC ships delivered more than 400,000 square feet of construction equipment and 133,000 pounds of baby food, blankets and tarps to the hurricane-ravaged countries.
"For fifty years, MSC has enjoyed the professionalism and expertise of America's merchant mariners," said Vice Adm. Gordon S. Holder, USN, Commander, MSC. "When duty called, they delivered."
MSC mariner-crewed ships provide critical logistics support to the Navy, perform special missions for various Navy and Department of Defense programs, strategically preposition military equipment and supplies around the world and provide fast sealift of equipment and supplies for the Department of Defense both in peacetime and in war.
As the United States moves into the 21st century, the role of MSC and the U.S. Merchant Marine continues to grow within the Department of Defense.
MSC civilian mariners are now serving in the steward department aboard USS Supply -- a Navy fast combat support ship crewed by Navy Sailors. This is the first time MSC mariners have served aboard a Navy combatant vessel. (FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).
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