USNS Henry J. Kaiser Supports USS Nimitz Strike Group Pre-Deployment Exercises

Photo By Sarah Cannon | A Navy H-60 helicopter receives pallets of dry stores from the deck of the Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187). Kaiser provided logistics services to the ships of the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) carrier strike group as they conducted routine, pre-deployment training operations in the Pacific area of operations.  

UNITED STATES

06.09.2020

Story by Sarah Cannon 

Military Sealift Command Pacific

Military Sealift Command Pacific (MSCPAC) fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187) provided logistics services to the ships of the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) carrier strike group as they conducted routine, pre-deployment training operations in the Pacific area of operations.

For nearly a month, through a series of replenishments-at-sea (RAS), Kaiser delivered 1,227 pallets of food, parts and equipment through a series of vertical and connected replenishments at-sea. In addition, the ship delivered over 4 million gallons of jet fuel and nearly 3 million gallons of diesel ship fuel.
MSC’s ability to replenish ships at-sea, benefits the Navy, by providing all the items needed to sustain the ships at sea, and allows them to stay in the area of operation longer, and without the need to come into port for supplies. In the COVID-19 world, this is even more important, as staying underway ensures ship crews, reduce their risk of exposure to the virus, keeping them healthy and able to perform the missions assigned to them.
According to Dave Spilholtz, MSCPAC combat logistics specialist, the support of the Nimitz Strike Group was larger than past operations, due to the COVID-19 protocols. Past missions of this sort can see pallet numbers less than one thousand.

“The high numbers were driven by Covid-19 and ships staying at sea for longer periods of time,” explained Spilholtz. “Just like other missions, we gave dry stores, soda, candy, repair parts, consumables and mail, lots of mail! Sailors are ordering a lot online, since they can’t go ashore. Just like us, they order on line and then it works its way to them at their front door, only in this case, their front door is their ship.”
Spilholtz said good communication equals a successful mission. The MSCPAC Combat Logistics Office (CLO) team worked closely with the Combat Logistics Force (CLF) teams on the ships to create schedules and timelines and ensure expectations were realistic for deliveries.

In addition to providing logistics services to the Nimitz strike group, Kaiser also served as the Pacific duty oilers, delivering supplies to other Navy ships in the area.

• Date Taken: 06.09.2020
• Date Posted: 06.10.2020 16:03
• Story ID: 371842
• Location: US