From Sarah Cannon
MSC fleet replenishment oilers USNS Pecos (T-AO 197) and the MSC dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) will provide logistics services including aviation fuel, diesel ship fuel, dry, fresh and frozen food equipment and supplies to the ships participating in the exercise.
MSC chartered tanker ships MT Overseas Mykonos and MT Allied Pacific will provide fuel to the MSC combat logistics ships during replenishment-at-sea events. With the closing of the Navy’s The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, the tanker replenishment events will allow the CLF ships to receive fuel at sea, enabling them to provide logistic services to exercise participants as needed, without delay.
MSC rescue and salvage ship USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51) will deliver two decommissioned Navy ships to the designated target area in preparation for sinking exercises (SINKEX); amphibious transport dock Ex-Dubuque (LPD 8) and amphibious assault ship Ex-Tarawa (LHA 1).
Five members of Military Sealift Command Pacific’s (MSCPAC) Headquarters Unit are serving as watch standers, providing maritime logistics support to Commander, Task Group 173. These reservists, alongside will providing comprehensive planning and coordination for each replenishment-at-sea conducted during the exercise, including arranging and coordinating rendezvous locations and times for MSCs CLF ships and MSC chartered tankers. In addition, the Reservists will coordinate towing operations Grasp.
At sea, 24 members of MSC Cargo Afloat Rig Team (CART) will support at-sea logistics operations in support of the exercise, training and working hand-in-hand with the civil service mariner crews in order to meet the huge underway replenishment demands of keeping the ships of the 29 participating nations supplied and moving.
“MSC and our crews of highly professional civilian mariners are proud to be a part of RIMPAC 2024,” said Leonard Bell, Deputy to the Commodore, Military Sealift Command Pacific. “This is a great opportunity for us to not only demonstrate our logistics capabilities, but to work and learn from our foreign Navy partners in an at-sea environment. In today’s challenging environments, exercises such as RIMPAC allow us to foster goodwill and relationships with like-minded partners, ensuring safe seas for military and commercial sailing.”
Hosted biennially by Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLT), and executed by Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet (C3F), RIMPAC is a multinational maritime exercise that takes place in and around the Hawaiian Islands. This year marks the 29th iteration of RIMPAC, a series that began in 1971 and is scheduled to take place from June 26 to August 2. Approximately 29 nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, over 150 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel are scheduled to participate. This year's exercise will include units or personnel from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States. RIMPAC is a unique training opportunity designed to foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.