Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2024)

Building the Next-Gen Maritime

Prepositioning Ship & Auxiliary Crane Ship

By Jerit VanAuker, Taluga Group, Military Sealift Command

M M M M/ M V Ocean Jazz can be c con? gured to carry containers, v vehicles and even aircraft, i including this Apache helicopter

Haw w ii Haw w wa Haw wa Hawa Hawa Hawa aded aded i Hawa aded aded aded aded bein be be be be be be bein in in in in in in ng be g g g g g g g g g g g lo lo lo lo lo lo loaded i i i i i in n n n n n n n n n n Ha a a a awaii ii ii ii ii ii. . . .

Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command photo by Donna Klapakis he Military Sealift Command’s Maritime Prepo- ever, these vessels lack a Float-On/Float-Off (Flo/Flo) capa- sitioning Ships (MPS) and Auxiliary Crane Ships bility that could be used to support Expeditionary Advanced (ACS) were built 50 years ago to pre-position ve- Base Operations (EABO) and Advance Naval Base (ANB) re-

Thicles and supplies in forward locations and load or plenishment, heavy lift requirements, maintenance and repair unload them in undeveloped or damaged port facilities. vessel, transport barges or act as a mother ship for unmanned

I serve with MSC’s Taluga Group, charged with ? nding in- vessels. Moreover, these ships are old.

novative solutions to pressing problems. One of those chal- For example, the ? rst of the ? ve USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo lenges is meeting the MPS and ACS mission as the current (T-AK 3008) class of roll-on/roll-off ships was completed in ships continue to serve past their expected service lines. 1985, and chartered by MSC until 2007, when it was acquired

To support distributed maritime operations (DMO) means by MSC. The 683-foot, 40,846-ton 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo is we still need prepositioned material on vessels and the ability currently part of the U.S. effort to provide pier facilities to to handle their cargos, and we must anticipate the need to do deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza, but suffered an engine so in a contested logistics environment. room ? re while enroute to the Mediterranean, which may be

Many of the MPF and ACS vessels employed today by the indicative of the fragility of gaining sealift assets.

Navy provide Roll-On/Roll-Off (Ro/Ro) and/or Lift-On/Lift- The ACS vessels are more than 50 years old and were con-

Off (Lo/Lo) capabilities and have functioned very well. How- verted to their current roles. The ? rst, the 668-foot, 31,500- 12 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • May 2024

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