RFA Stromness (A344) was a fleet stores ship which served the Royal Fleet Auxiliary until sold to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command in 1983. While in the service of British forces, it saw service in the Falklands War. After the sale to the United States, it was renamed USNS Saturn (T-AFS-10) and acted as a combat stores ship until it was deactivated in 2009; it was able to supply two other ships at once. In 2010, it was sunk in an exercise by the U.S. Carrier Strike Group Two off the coast of North Carolina.
The 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 Yukon (T-AO-202) is a Henry J. Kaiser-class underway replenishment oiler operated by the Military Sealift Command to support ships of the United States Navy.
A small waterplane area twin hull, better known by the acronym SWATH, is a catamaran design that minimizes hull cross section area at the sea's surface. Minimizing the ship's volume near the surface area of the sea, where wave energy is located, minimizes a vessel's response to sea state, even in high seas and at high speeds. The bulk of the displacement necessary to keep the ship afloat is located beneath the waves, where it is less affected by wave action. Wave excitation drops exponentially as depth increases, so wave action normally does not affect a submerged submarine at all. Placing the majority of a ship's displacement under the waves is similar in concept to creating a ship that rides atop twin submarines.
USNS Rappahannock is a Henry J. Kaiser-class underway replenishment oiler operated by the Military Sealift Command to support ships of the United States Navy.
USNS Stalwart (T-AGOS-1) was a Modified Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ship and the lead ship of her class.
USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24), also known as ex-AGOS 10, is one of two tracking ships operated by the Military Sealift Command. One of the radars it carries is the Cobra Gemini dual band, X band and S band, radar.
The AN/UQQ-2 Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), colloquially referred to as the ship's "Tail", is a towed array sonar system of the United States Navy.
The Ocean Survey Vessel (OSV) Bold was operated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Originally commissioned as the USNS Vigorous, it was renamed USNS Bold (T-AGOS-12) and was a Stalwart-class Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance ship of the Military Sealift Command of the United States Navy, as designated by the "T" preface to her AGOS classification. Stalwart-class ships were originally designed to collect underwater acoustical data in support of Cold war anti-submarine warfare operations in the 1980s.
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 Able (T-AGOS-20) is a Victorious-class oceanographic survey ship in the service of the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command.
USNS Effective (T-AGOS-21) is a Victorious-class ocean surveillance ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1993 and assigned to the Navy's Special Mission Program.
USNS Loyal (T-AGOS-22) is a Victorious-class ocean surveillance ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1993 and assigned to the Navy's Special Missions Program.
USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS-23) is an Impeccable-class ocean surveillance ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 2001 and assigned to Military Sealift Command's Special Missions Program.
The Impeccable-class ocean surveillance ship is a single-ship class of United States Navy special mission-support ship. The original intention was to build six undersea ocean-surveillance ships carrying a SURTASS passive towed array and a Low Frequency Active transducer array. Only the lead ship, USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS-23), was built.
USNS Zeus (T-ARC-7) is the first cable ship specifically built for the United States Navy. Though planned to be the first of two ships of her class, the second ship was not built, leaving Zeus as the only ship of her class. She is capable of laying 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of cable at depths of up to 9,000 feet (2,700 m).
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.
USNS Pecos (T-AO-197) is a Henry J. Kaiser-class underway replenishment oiler operated by the Military Sealift Command to support ships of the United States Navy, and the third such ship to be named after the Pecos River.
