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Historic beginning and ending for Navy ship

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WASHINGTON (USTCNS) --- Friday, July 13, will mark a historic moment for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command.

That morning at Naval Weapons Station Earle, N.J., fast combat support ship USS Supply will become fast combat support ship USNS Supply. Supply is the first of four ships in her class scheduled to transfer to MSC operational control by September 2004.

Never again will a sea of Navy blue jackets be visible on Supply's decks. Instead, her crew of 544 Navy personnel will be replaced by a total of 235 personnel -- 176 civilian mariners and 59 Navy personnel. The crew size reduces by more than 50 percent due to the ship's change in status to a noncombatant vessel.

As a noncombatant ship, Supply will no longer need personnel to maintain and operate the weapons and combat systems. The ship's primary mission will remain the same: to provide fuel, ammunition and food to Navy ships underway.

This reduction in personnel enables the Navy to redirect these Sailors to war-fighting assignments. Hundreds of Sailors will be reassigned to combatant ships throughout the fleet-returning them to the war-fighting jobs they joined the Navy to perform.

As a civilian mariner-crewed ship, Supply will be able to spend significantly more days at sea because civilian-crewed ships are not restricted by the operational tempo and deployment cycle policies that govern USS ships. This translates into more service to the fleet. Supply's transfer and the transfer of the rest of her class will save the Navy $76 million per year in ship operating costs by 2004.

Navy Vice Adm. G.S. Holder commander, Military Sealift Command, will be the principal speaker at the USS Supply decommissioning and transfer to MSC.

The outgoing commanding officer of USS Supply, Navy Capt. Robert Warner, and the incoming master of USNS Supply, Merchant Marine Capt. Terry Rycenga, both will participate in the ceremony.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. John Bepkowill will also be present at the ceremony. Bepko was the first Navy commanding officer of USS Supply, and his last Navy assignment was as the deputy commander of MSC.

The Friday ceremony has broader significance than just the transfer of the Supply class to MSC. The transfer marks the beginning of MSC operation of the entire Navy Combat Logistics Force. MSC already operates the Navy's oilers, ammunition ships and combat stores ships.

The Navy Sailor-operated Sacramento class of fast combat support ships are scheduled to be decommissioned beginning in fiscal year 2006; at the same time, the Navy is building 12 new Lewis and Clark-class combat logistics ships, hull designator T-AKE.

The T-AKE ships will replace MSC's Kilauea-class ammunition ships and Mars-class and Sirius-class combat stores ships. The T-AKE ships are scheduled to deliver to MSC from fiscal year 2005 through FY 2011.

The acquisition of the 12 Lewis and Clark-class ships will re-capitalize the Combat Logistics Force fleet and allow the Navy to eventually retire aging CLF ships including the ammunition ships and the combat stores ships.

Military Sealift Command is the ocean transportation provider for the Department of Defense, operating about 110 ships daily around the globe. MSC ships provide logistics support to Navy ships underway, preposition military equipment and supplies near hotspots worldwide, provide fast sealift of equipment and supplies in peace and war, and perform various special missions for the Department of Defense including counter drug operations.

(FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)

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