The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) under the authority of the Secretary of Defense. Originally formed as United States Atlantic Fleet (USLANTFLT) in 1906, it has been an integral part of the defense of the United States of America since the early 20th century. In 2002, the Fleet comprised over 118,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel serving on 186 ships and in 1,300 aircraft, with an area of responsibility ranging over most of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole, the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Central and South America.
The Lewis and Clark class of dry cargo ship is a class of 14 underway replenishment vessels operated by the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command. The ships in the class are named after famous American explorers and pioneers.
Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US military services as well as for other government agencies. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's ocean transport needs. The MSTS was renamed the Military Sealift Command in 1970.
USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) is a Mercy-class hospital ship of the United States Navy.
USS Santa Barbara (AE-28) was an Kilauea-class ammunition ship in the United States Navy. Santa Barbara is both the name of Santa Barbara, California and a historically active volcano on Terceira Island in the Azores. In addition, Saint Barbara is the patron saint of those who work with cannons and explosives.
USS Shasta (AE-33) was a Kilauea-class replenishment ammunition ship of the United States Navy. She was named after Mount Shasta, a volcano in the Cascade Range in northern California. Shasta's mission was to support forward deployed aircraft carrier battle groups, which she accomplished through underway replenishment and vertical replenishment. Over three decades, Shasta and her crew took part in the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Iran–Iraq War, Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm, and numerous other actions.
The Mars-class combat stores ships were a class of seven auxiliary vessels of the United States Navy. The ships were designed for underway replenishment, in support of carrier task force groups, carrying miscellaneous stores and munitions. Initially they carried no fuel oil or liquid cargo, but by the early 1990s the class was refitted with limited refuel capacities for F-76 fuel. None of the original seven ships originally commissioned by the US Navy remain in service. The Mars class was replaced by the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships.
The second USS Butte (AE-27) was a Kilauea-class ammunition ship in the United States Navy. She was laid down 21 July 1966 by General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was christened and launched 9 August 1967. She was commissioned on 14 December 1968 in the Boston Naval Shipyard and assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, originally homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.
A joint support ship (JSS) is a multi-role naval vessel capable of launching and supporting joint amphibious and airlift operations. It can also provide command and control, sealift and seabasing, underway replenishment, disaster relief and logistics capabilities for combined land and sea operations.
USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52) is a Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship, the second United States Navy ship of that name.
USS Flint (AE-32/T-AE-32) is a Kilauea-class ammunition ship of the United States Navy, and was named after the sparking rock flint. Flint was constructed at the Ingalls Nuclear Shipbuilding Division, Litton Industries, Inc., Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship was delivered to the United States Navy at Charleston, South Carolina, on 30 August 1971.
USNS Mount Baker (T-AE-34) was the seventh of eight Kilauea-class ammunition ships. She served in the United States Navy from 1972 to 1996 and with the Military Sealift Command from 1996 to 2010. She was scrapped in 2012.
USNS Safeguard (T-ARS-50),, is the lead ship of her class and the second United States Navy ship of that name.
USNS Rainier (T-AOE-7), is a Supply-class fast combat support ship and the third US Navy vessel named after Mount Rainier. The ship was christened on 28 September 1991 by the ship's sponsor, Mrs. Suzanne Callison Dicks, wife of Congressman Norm Dicks, and commissioned as "USS Rainier (AOE-7)", on 21 January 1995 at Bremerton, Washington.
Rescue and salvage ships are a type of military salvage tug. They are tasked with coming to the aid of stricken vessels. Their general mission capabilities include combat salvage, lifting, towing, retraction of grounded vessels, off-ship firefighting, and manned diving operations. They were common during World War II.
USNS Kiska (T-AE-35), ex-USS Kiska (AE-35) was one of five ammunition ships operated by Military Sealift Command of the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force. The ship was laid down on 8 April 1971 at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi as USS Kiska (AE-35) and was launched on 11 March 1972. Originally commissioned on December 16, 1972 she was decommissioned on 1 August 1996, and that same day entered service with Military Sealift Command as USNS Kiska (T-AE-35). She continued to operate under Military Sealift Command's control until she was deactivated at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on January 15, 2011. Kiska was the eighth and final ship of the Kilauea-class ammunition ships. Kiska was disposed of by Navy title transfer to the Maritime Administration as of May 30, 2013. Kiska was completely dismantled to its material content by Esco Marine, Inc. in Brownsville, Texas on November 20, 2013.
USS Passumpsic (AO-107), the only United States Navy ship to bear the name, was an Ashtabula-class fleet replenishment oiler that served in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1973, then transferred to the Military Sealift Command to continue service as United States Naval Ship USNS Passumpsic (T-AO-107). She was the only U.S. Navy ship to bear the name Passumpsic, after the Passumpsic River in Vermont.
USS San Jose (AFS-7) was a Mars-class combat stores ship acquired by the U.S. Navy (USN) in 1970. She served as a Navy ship until November 1993, and was involved in the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War. The ship was transferred to the Military Sealift Command (MSC), and was redesignated USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7). As an MSC vessel, San Jose was involved in the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, the response to the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, as well as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The ship was deactivated in 2010, and was sold for scrap in 2013.
USS Wahkiakum County (LST-1162), previously USS LST-1162, was a United States Navy landing ship tank (LST) in commission from 1953 to 1970, and which then saw non-commissioned Military Sealift Command service as USNS Wahkiakum County (T-LST-1162) from 1972 to 1973.
The Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force is a division of the US Navy. The 42 ships of the Military Sealift Command's Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force are the supply lines to U.S. Navy ships at sea. These ships provide virtually everything that Navy ships need, including fuel, food, ordnance, spare parts, mail and other supplies. NFAF ships enable the Navy fleet to remain at sea, on station and combat ready for extended periods of time. NFAF ships also conduct towing, rescue and salvage operations or serve as floating medical facilities. All NFAF ships are government owned and crewed by civil service mariners. Some of the ships also have a small contingent of Navy personnel aboard for operations support, supply coordination and helicopter operations.
United States
