Military Sealift Command will sideline 17 ships to ease the stress of civilian mariners, MSC’s commander confirmed Thursday. “That number’s based on again the number of mariners that we need to get us to 95 percent [manning],” Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck told reporters in a call Thursday morning. “It is aligning the force so that we are most ready and that we are getting after the fleet requirements.”
MSC crews the Navy’s logistics and support vessels, with 4,500 billets across the command. There are about 5,500, or 1.27 mariners per billet, to fill positions on an MSC ship. That ratio means a mariner is at sea for four months, off for one month and then must return to work. The new move will allow mariners more time on shore.
“If you’re required to have 100 people on a vessel. There are only 27 more people on shore at any given time to rotate those crew members,” one former MSC mariner told USNI News over the summer.
Poster Comment:
Trump can cut the size of the Navy to solve military staffing problems and save us money.
Houthis are getting Russia's Mach 9 Zircon cruise missile which can reach and touch US ships 1,000 Kms distant. That is 621 miles.