Merlin delivers mobile hospital to Norway
The hospital will be "prepositioned" in Norway, in case it is needed in a contingency operation overseas. The move was part of a previously scheduled rotation of fleet hospital equipment.
The mid-September operation, formally called Exercise Trident Arch, included personnel from the Navy's Military Sealift Command, and reservists from stateside cargo handling units. Cargo ship MV Merlin off-loaded a fully functioning and self-sustaining fleet hospital for the Naval Medical Logistics Command. Ambulances, fire trucks, portable cranes, and diesel trucks-more than 200 in all-rolled off the ship, as well as tons of medical and other supplies-everything from bandages and medication to generators and tents.
From there, the fleet hospital cargo was moved to a storage area in Norway. The fleet hospital replaces an existing prepositioned hospital stored in Norway, which was then loaded aboard Merlin for transport back to the U.S.
Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 13, of Gulfport, Miss., and Navy Cargo Handling Battalion Nine, of Columbus, Ohio, drove the wheeled vehicles off the ship's roll-on/roll-off ramp, and operated the ship's cranes-removing hundreds of containers.
Military Sealift Command Northern Europe's Deane Swickard, acted as the liaison officer between the ship, cargo handlers, and port authorities. Swickard noted the outstanding cooperation of Norwegian forces, providing security for the cargo and ship, in particular.
"All hospital cargo to be back loaded aboard Merlin was already staged on the pier, so it could be loaded quickly, and the ship could get underway," Swickard said. The ship left Bogen Bay on the evening of Sept. 22.
The U.S.-flagged MV Merlin was built in France in 1978 and weighs some 27,000 gross tons. MSC routinely contracts commercial vessels as a cost effective and efficient method to move Department of Defense cargo worldwide. Naval Medical Logistics Command coordinates medical and dental material management and logistic support to operating forces worldwide.
(FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND-EUROPE PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
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