Italian legacy supports work of 839th Transportation Battalion
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (USTCNS) --- The artistic legacy of Italy blends like a wonderful shroud around the 839th Transportation Battalion.
Historic beauty and business efficiency blend together at the Tombolo Dock, on the Navicelli Canal.
Imagine the scenario of a canal built in the early part of the 15th century would become a part of a key transportation process. Tombolo Dock is an invisible speck on the Navicelli Canal, one of very few navigable canals in Italy. It is located in central Italy and more specifically in the Tuscany region -- the land of the Chianti …
Today the Tombolo Dock is the only way the Military Traffic Management Command can move large quantities of ammunition by sea into Italy and, ultimately, to customers. The dock is conveniently located immediately adjacent to the Leghorn Ammunition Storage Area where U.S. Army Europe and U.S. Air Force Europe theater ammunition stocks south of the Alps are maintained.
Because of the canal's structure, there are restrictions on the type of small craft that can be used. We use either small self-propelled flat-bottom coastal vessels or LASH barges - which resemble a floating metal box, pulled/pushed by a tug.
The preferred method is the former because it allows for transfer of large quantities in one load. It takes an overnight sail of 76 nautical miles from the outer port of Livorno and the coaster rendezvous with a large ocean going cargo vessel anchored in the outer bay of Talamone.
The idea of a canal that would connect Pisa and Livorno was very logical. Pisa was a glorious and powerful Maritime Republic during the 11th and 12th centuries. The canal became a reality in the 15th century during the reign of Cosimo the 1st, a Medici, between 1541 and 1575, when the two cities were under the first Florentine Republic domination.
Talamone is quite simply a Rock, situated at the southernmost end of Tuscany's Maremma Natural Park with a history that goes back before the Roman Empire. In its more recent days, around 1860, the people of Talamone supported Giuseppe Garibaldi, a fighter for freedom and the unity of Italy, with subsistence and arms.
Today this same land supports the 839th Transportation Battalion.
It is the only location in Italy where unlimited quantities of explosives can be handled. Cargo is efficiently transshipped in-stream from vessel to coaster, and vice versa, under the vigilant eyes of Carabinieri patrol boats.
(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
Historic beauty and business efficiency blend together at the Tombolo Dock, on the Navicelli Canal.
Imagine the scenario of a canal built in the early part of the 15th century would become a part of a key transportation process. Tombolo Dock is an invisible speck on the Navicelli Canal, one of very few navigable canals in Italy. It is located in central Italy and more specifically in the Tuscany region -- the land of the Chianti …
Today the Tombolo Dock is the only way the Military Traffic Management Command can move large quantities of ammunition by sea into Italy and, ultimately, to customers. The dock is conveniently located immediately adjacent to the Leghorn Ammunition Storage Area where U.S. Army Europe and U.S. Air Force Europe theater ammunition stocks south of the Alps are maintained.
Because of the canal's structure, there are restrictions on the type of small craft that can be used. We use either small self-propelled flat-bottom coastal vessels or LASH barges - which resemble a floating metal box, pulled/pushed by a tug.
The preferred method is the former because it allows for transfer of large quantities in one load. It takes an overnight sail of 76 nautical miles from the outer port of Livorno and the coaster rendezvous with a large ocean going cargo vessel anchored in the outer bay of Talamone.
The idea of a canal that would connect Pisa and Livorno was very logical. Pisa was a glorious and powerful Maritime Republic during the 11th and 12th centuries. The canal became a reality in the 15th century during the reign of Cosimo the 1st, a Medici, between 1541 and 1575, when the two cities were under the first Florentine Republic domination.
Talamone is quite simply a Rock, situated at the southernmost end of Tuscany's Maremma Natural Park with a history that goes back before the Roman Empire. In its more recent days, around 1860, the people of Talamone supported Giuseppe Garibaldi, a fighter for freedom and the unity of Italy, with subsistence and arms.
Today this same land supports the 839th Transportation Battalion.
It is the only location in Italy where unlimited quantities of explosives can be handled. Cargo is efficiently transshipped in-stream from vessel to coaster, and vice versa, under the vigilant eyes of Carabinieri patrol boats.
(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
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