MARAD 16-07
Friday, October 5, 2007
Contact: Rob Whitney
Tel.: (202) 366-5807
Fast Sealift Ships to Join Ready Reserve Force
Eight Vessels to Enhance Fleet Capability
Eight Fast
Sealift Ships are being transferred from the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift
Command to the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration. Fast
Sealift Ships are currently the fastest cargo ships in the world, capable of
speeds in excess of 30 knots. They are capable of sailing from the U.S. East
Coast to Europe in just six days and to the Persian Gulf via the Suez Canal in
18 days, thus ensuring rapid delivery of military equipment in a crisis.
Combined, all eight Fast Sealift Ships can carry nearly all the equipment needed
to outfit a full Army mechanized division.
“These ships
will greatly enhance the capability of the Ready Reserve Force to support the
U.S. Armed Forces,” said Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton. “The
United States relies on sealift to support action in crises and emergencies all
over the world, and the Ready Reserve Force and its merchant mariners are
standing by when needed.”
Custody of
the U.S. Navy Ships Algol, Altair, Antares, Bellatrix, Capella, Denebola, Pollux,
and Regulus was transferred to the Maritime Administration on October 1, 2007.
The ships will be maintained in a 5-day readiness status in the Ready Reserve
Force, able to activate within 120 hours from notification and be ready for sea.
Full title to the ships will be transferred to the Maritime Administration
October 1, 2008.
The Maritime Administration maintains the Ready Reserve Force fleet,
located throughout the country, in a reserve status in the event that the
Department of Defense needs these ships to support the rapid, massive movement
of military supplies and troops for a military exercise or large-scale conflict.
The ships are managed by commercial companies and crewed by civilian merchant
mariners. With the addition of the eight Fast Sealift Ships, there will be 52
ships in the RRF.