Photo By Ben Farone | Mr. Thomas Kiss, right, Military Sealift Command Director of Ship Management takes a...... read more read more
NAPLES, Italy – (Sept. 22, 2025) Mr. Thomas Kiss, Military Sealift Command (MSC) Director of Ship Management visited the Naples, Italy-based MSC Europe & Africa area command Sept. 15-19, 2025.
During the visit, Kiss toured both the amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) in port Gaeta, Italy as well as USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) in the Viktor Lenac shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia.
“So it's important for me to get active, visit the ships, our area commands, and our ship repair partners occasionally just to check and see how things are going. And see where we can help them better from headquarters back in Norfolk,” said Kiss.
Kiss’ visit to Mount Whitney included a walk through the engineering spaces, the flight deck and lunch with the leadership team of the blended military / CIVMAR crew in the ship’s galley.
“It's always great to see all of the great work that's being done by our mariners on the ships and I never fail to be impressed by the things that they're doing with a limited amount of time, people, and money they have available to do it,” said Kiss.
Onboard each ship, Kiss had a chance to engage with the crew and take questions on a wide range of topics.
“The mariners are always very interested in hearing what's happening with our efforts to improve their quality of service and to grow the workforce,” Kiss noted. “So, it was an opportunity for me to talk about the latest status for our first generation risk reduction ships, which included the Lewis B. Puller who [we visited] today. Then we talked about other things like Wi-Fi on ships, our One Pay, and our rotational model,” Kiss continued.
MSC directs and supports operations for approximately 140 civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships at sea, conduct specialized missions, preposition combat cargo at sea around the world, perform a variety of support services, and move military equipment and supplies to deployed U.S. forces. MSC exists to support the joint warfighter across the full spectrum of military operations, with a workforce that includes approximately 6,000 Civil Service Mariners and 1,100 contract mariners, supported by 1,500 shore staff and 1,400 active duty and reserve military personnel.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2025 08:59 |
| Story ID: | 548881 |
| Location: | RIJEKA, HR |
| Web Views: | 324 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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