The U.S. Navy does not have enough merchant mariners to fully staff its 17 ships, so officials are reportedly planning to take them out of regular service.
The Merchant Marine is a privately-operated marine organization under joint federal and private sector control. Lost Too many people Fox News reported that the fleet is doing this to “ensure adequate crewing and operation of ships across the fleet.”
“The problem, of course, is that ships are at sea, away from their home ports, 12 months of the year,” said Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery (retired), senior director of the Cyber and Technology Innovation Center at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Merchant Marines are not officially part of the U.S. military, but according to the Department of Transportation (DOT), they pilot commercial ships and also serve in a supporting role during wartime or national emergencies. Maritime Administration.
“We’re severely understaffed,” Montgomery said.
“There is a shortage of experienced merchant mariners to serve on our seas and this is a clear national security risk,” he added.
The Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) Planned The U.S. Naval Institute reported Thursday that 17 ships will be placed into “extended maintenance.”
Sources told the news agency that MSC plans to “realign” “two Lewis and Clark supply ships, one fleet oiler, 12 Spearhead-class fast transports (EPFs) and two forward-deployed naval expeditionary sea bases” for a “force generation realignment” and reallocate crew members to other ships.
Montgomery stressed that the issue primarily affects merchant seafarers.
“While sailors often serve on warships, merchant mariners serve on the equally important Navy logistics crews: the tankers, ammunition ships and transports that move Army and Marine troops at sea,” Montgomery told Fox.
“Just as 90% of trade is done by ship and not by plane, the same is true at sea. It’s not enough to move everything by plane because it’s too difficult and too expensive, so we move it by ship.”
