According to USNI News, the Military Sealift Command ( MSC ) has developed a plan to sideline the crews of 17 Navy support ships because there are n’t enough qualified mariners on board. The Navy is struggling to maintain a green workforce to perform these vital arteries, according to U.S. Naval Institute News ( USNI).
Dubbed informally as” the great reset”, the MSC’s “force generation reset” plan would see 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 placed into an “extended maintenance” period. This strategy aims to assign their crews to another ship members.
Up to 700 detachments of human sailor need could be reduced as a result of the ship decline, according to sources familiar with the plan, easing the MSC’s workforce’s workload. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti is already approving this plan.
The MSC, accountable for refueling and resupplying Navy ships abroad, operates a fleet of shipping boats crewed by roughly 5, 500 human sailors. However, the ratio of sailors to molds, which stands at 1.27 mariners per steel, has proven untenable. Due to this amount, mariners must spend long periods at sea, which frequently leads to a bad work-life balance and difficulty taking enough vacation time.
One past MSC sailor characterized the situation as unworkable, noting that the current ratio requires mariners to spent four months at sea with only about a quarter of sea left. This plan leaves little time for rest, coaching, or personal life, contributing to higher levels of fatigue and retention.
Professional mariners, in contrast, usually work under coalition contracts, which offer a more healthy routine, with two mariners for every workpiece and paid leave for each month spent at sea. Also, MSC sailors, unlike their corporate counterparts, are certainly paid for day off if they have n’t accrued enough left.
The retention problem within the MSC has been exacerbated by demanding COVID-19 reduction methods, including the “gangway up” commands under retired MSC chief Rear Adm. Michael Wettlaufer. Sailors were kept on their ships for extended intervals while the pandemic deteriorated, leading to the demise of many of their positions.
Some mariners cited the lack of work-life balance as the cause, according to a retired MSC sailor, who claimed that mariners began quitting sooner than the MSC could find replacements. After witnessing older colleagues battle with personal relationships, another former sailor claimed that he left the service because he was concerned about his mother’s well-being.
If implemented, the “great update” may open up between 600 to 700 sailors, allowing the MSC to improve its proportion to 1.5 sailors per steel. This would give mariners more time on the water and allow the Navy to use the newer support vessels, like the John Lewis-class fleet oilers, which have n’t yet been deployed due to crew shortages, to operate.
The decision to craft this plan stems from years of neglect and mismanagement, according to Sal Mercogliano, a former MSC mariner and associate professor of history at Campbell University. He argued that due to the demanding schedules and inadequate support, the MSC has been “burning through people.”
The proposed sidelining of ships includes some high-visibility vessels, such as the forward-deployed expeditionary sea bases USS Lewis Puller ( ESB-3 ) and USS Herschel” Woody” Williams ( ESB-4). These ships, stationed in Bahrain and Greece, respectively, have been integral to U. S. operations in the Middle East and Africa, including anti-smuggling missions and regional patrols.
Additionally, the plan affects 12 active Spearhead-class EPFs, which have been used for outreach missions across the Pacific, Europe, and Africa. While two of these vessels, USNS Spearhead ( EPF-1 ) and USNS Choctaw County ( EPF-2 ), have already been sidelined, others are returning to the U. S. despite having significant service life remaining.
The MSC’s proposal to remove crews from 17 Navy support ships is a reflection of the ongoing difficulties of keeping a qualified and sustainable maritime workforce. As the Navy awaits a decision from Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the fate of these vessels and their crews remains uncertain. If approved, the “great reset” could provide much-needed relief to mariners while ensuring that the Navy’s logistics fleet remains operational in the years to come.
