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he moving of military equipment and personnel across the oceans can be seen as one of the miracles of World War II. The architects of that vicrory, General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, however, found the situation a nightmare. No less than four government age ncies competed for merchant ships and crews. From the ashes of WWII sprang the Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and its successor, the Military Sealift Command (MSC). The o rganization and duties of the MSTS/MSC mark one of the most important, yet uncelebrated, aspects of American military activity in the post-World War II and post-9/11 worlds.
Secretary ofDefense James Forrestal (left) and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz (right) were instrumental in creating the Military Sealift Command to streamline the transportation services ofthe four branches ofthe military.
In December 1948, Secretary of Defense Jam es Forrestal announced that all military ocean transportation wo uld be consolidated under Navy command. By July 1949, funding issues had been resolved, and the newly-appointed Secretary of Defense, Louis Johnson, issued a memorandum officially forming the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) under Rear Admiral William M. Callaghan. The new MSTS would act as a carrier service for overseas military operations, assuming responsibility for cargoes once they were loaded. Port operations would still be controlled by the respective military services. The first MSTS ships had been Naval Transportation Service (NTS) ves-
by Frank Randall
sels and were, thus, commissioned in the US Navy and manned by military crews. On 1 October 1949, when the NTS was dissolved and its assets and personnel transferred to MSTS, fifty-seven tankers of the Petroleum and Tanker Branch of the Chief of Naval Operations office (OP422) joined the MSTS fleet. These ships were government-owned tankers, operated by four commercial firms and manned with licensed civilian merchant mariners. Between M arch and November of 1950, operational control of over one hundred Army Transport Service ships was transferred to MSTS. These ships were also run by civilian crews. Almost immediately, the new MSTS got its first test. With President Truman's decision to commit US forces and to expand the M utual Defense Ass istance Program to South Korea in June 1950, the new MSTS diverted every sh ip available to the Far East. The coastal transport USAT
Sgt. George D. Keathley and the cargo ship USNS Cardinal O'Connell were rerouted to transport vital ammunition to Pusan. With just six ships under charter when the war began, this total peaked at 255 before the war was over. More than 85 percent of all the cargo shipped to Korea by sea went onboard US commercial ships. The lessons and effects of the Korean War rem ain with the Military Sealift Co mmand today; recognizing the limitations of the WWII Maritime Commission-built fleet of merchant ships, Admiral Edward L. Cochrane initiated a program to foster ship construction and oversaw the design and building of thirty-five Mariner-class freighters. One of these ships, ex-SS Empire State Mariner, is still in operation as USNS Observation Island. MSTS's first test, coming only nine months after its initial activation, vindicated the concept of a unified sealift service under the Department of D efense. Renamed Military Sealift Command (MSC) in 1970, the service became o ne of three component commands of the newlyestablished US Transportation Command in 1987. In addition to reporting to the US Transportation Command, the commander of MSC also reports to the Chief of Naval Operations and to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. MSC's ships are fully integrated into the operational structure of the Navy's fleets worldwide. Today, MSC's m ore than 10,000 employees operate an average of 120 ships every day aro und th e globe in support of US strategies and policies. More than
USNS Oberon was one ofthe first ships transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service from the Naval Transportation Service in 1950.