Pentagon Orders Sudden Deployment Drill Of Unprecedented Size For Its Sealift Ships
Dozens of reserve logistics ships are getting ready to sail amid concerns about the readiness of these vital support fleets during a major conflict.
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| Thilo Parg via Wikimedia |
The exercise, aptly nicknamed Turbo Activation, began on Sept. 16, 2019, and involves crews from the Ready Reserve Force getting no-notice orders to "activate" their ships and get them ready for operations. The general goal of these exercises, four of which generally occur every fiscal year, is to validate the readiness of the vessels involved and test the ability of merchant mariners to get them operational within an assigned timeframe. How long a crew has to prepare varies from ship to ship and can be anywhere from four to 20 days.
"The activated ships are directed to transition from a reduced operating status to a fully crewed status, with the quarters made habitable and cargo gear ready, within five days," according to the U.S. Transportation Command "Activations are commonly followed immediately by a sea trial."
"These exercises typically involve only a few ships, but this event targets 28 vessels for activation to provide a better assessment of the readiness of U.S. sealift forces than can be accomplished with fewer activations,"
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USN The first-in-class guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, at far left, sits next to, left to right, the M/V Cape Race, M/V Cape Ray, and M/V Cape Rise, all of which are part of MARAD's Ready Reserve Force
Contact the author: joe@thedrive
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References;
Military Sealift Command List of Military Sealift Command ships
Great work Mr A
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