from Your News:
The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command is considering sidelining 17 support ships due to a shortage of qualified mariners, a move that could significantly impact naval operations.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) is reportedly drafting a plan to sideline 17 support ships due to a severe shortage of qualified mariners, a decision that could have significant ramifications for the Navy’s operational readiness. This “Great Reset” plan, as it has been informally dubbed, aims to address the manpower crisis by reallocating mariners from sidelined vessels to other ships within the fleet, USNI News learned.
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The plan involves placing 17 ships, including two Lewis and Clark-class replenishment ships, one fleet oiler, a dozen Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPF), and two forward-deployed Navy expeditionary sea bases, into an “extended maintenance” period. The decision to sideline these ships could reduce the demand for civilian mariners by as many as 700 billets, according to sources familiar with the plan.
A defense official confirmed the broad outlines of the plan to USNI News, while sources identified the two forward-deployed sea bases as the USS Lewis Puller (ESB-3), based in Bahrain under U.S. Central Command, and the USS Herschel “Woody” Williams (ESB-4), based in Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Greece, and operated under U.S. European and Africa Command.
The MSC operates a fleet of logistics ships responsible for refueling and resupplying Navy vessels worldwide, crewed by approximately 5,500 civilians employed by the Navy. However, the current mariner-to-billet ratio within the MSC is unsustainable, with only 1.27 mariners available per billet. This shortage has led to a punishing work-life balance for mariners, many of whom spend months at sea with minimal time off, causing significant retention issues.
“If you’re required to have 100 people on a vessel, there are only 27 more people on shore at any given time to rotate those crew members,” a former MSC mariner told USNI News. “That math just doesn’t work.”
The proposed “Great Reset” plan seeks to improve the mariner-to-billet ratio to 1.5, providing mariners with more shore time and enabling the Navy to better crew newer support vessels, such as the John Lewis-class fleet oilers. These oilers have already been delivered to the Navy, but their deployment has been delayed due to crew availability issues.
The retention problem within the MSC has been exacerbated by the stringent COVID-19 prevention measures implemented by former MSC commander Rear Adm. Michael Wettlaufer, which restricted mariners’ ability to leave their ships. “During COVID, nobody was getting off the ship, mariners were being treated poorly, and so they started to quit,” a retired MSC mariner told USNI News.
As mariners continue to leave the MSC faster than new ones can be hired, the pressure to retain experienced personnel has led to the decision to craft this plan, sources told USNI News. “This is basically the result of many years of neglect and mismanagement of their force,” said Sal Mercogliano, a former MSC mariner and associate professor of history at Campbell University.
The two forward-deployed expeditionary sea bases, the USS Lewis Puller and the USS Herschel “Woody” Williams, are among the highest-profile ships slated for sidelining under the proposed plan. The Puller has been stationed in Bahrain since 2017 and has played a critical role in operations such as anti-smuggling missions and the potential evacuation of U.S. citizens from conflict zones. The Williams has been central to the Navy’s efforts in Africa, conducting annual patrols around the continent.
The Spearhead-class EPFs, high-speed aluminum catamarans built at Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, are also included in the reset plan. These vessels, crewed by about 26 MSC mariners each, have been deployed to various regions, including the Pacific, Europe, and Africa, as part of U.S. outreach missions. Despite their relatively young service lives, some EPFs have already been sidelined, with more expected to follow.
