Navy Eyes $1 Billion Support Ships To Supply Carrier Strike Groups

By RICHARD R. BURGESS
Managing Editor

The U.S. Navy has begun studying operational alternatives for a new class of fast combat support ships (T-AOEs) to keep its carrier strike groups resupplied at sea. The ships will be designed as a sea-basing asset and to sustain the combat effectiveness of the next-generation aircraft carrier.

Unlike the slower supply ships of the Military Sealift Command (MSC), which shuttle supplies from shore stations to ships, an AOE normally steams in company with a battle group, and therefore must be capable of speeds of 26 knots or more. Designed with more survivability features relative to other replenishment ships, an AOE supplies a carrier strike group with munitions, petroleum/oil/lubricants and provisions — fresh, frozen or dry. It delivers supplies underway as ships are alongside, or via helicopter. The Navy plans to purchase four T-AOE(X) ships during fiscal years 2009 through 2011. The “T” indicates the ships will be operated by the MSC.

Meanwhile, the capabilities of four existing Supply-class T-AOEs are being substantially improved. The ships are operated by smaller crews of civilian mariners under contract to the MSC, with small detachments of Navy personnel. They can stay at sea 270 days a year, almost twice the time they could with all-Navy crews, said Jonathan D. Kaskin, director of Strategic Mobility and Combat Logistics for the Chief of Naval Operations. Because civilian mariners live permanently on board the ships — which have no homeports — they are not limited by Navy operational and personnel tempo restrictions.

While the cost savings gained by smaller crews are significant, Kaskin said, the “primary savings is in higher productivity.” The MSC will keep carrier strike groups supplied with the help of the current fleet of combat stores ships, ammunition ships and oilers, and by the new Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo/ammunition ships (T-AKEs) entering service in 2006. However, Kaskin said the fleet requirement for fuel in the interim might require the activation of at least one Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet oiler from reduced operating status.

The design criteria for the T-AOE(X) will include the Navy’s new Fleet Response Plan, which requires that the service be able to surge six carrier strike groups in 30 days and two more in 90 days. “The fleet is happy with the way AOEs operate,” Kaskin said, and the new ships will be functional replacements for the four-ship Sacramento class, which will be retired by 2006. However, the T-AOE(X) vessels will not come cheap: he estimates the price tag as “close to $1 billion” per ship.

The Center for Naval Analyses, under the sponsorship of Kaskin and the deputy assistant secretary for the Navy for ships, Alison Stiller, is conducting an analysis of alternative capabilities for the T-AOE(X) concept. It is to be completed in the spring of 2005. Commander, Fleet Forces Command began a study in August, directed by Director-Analyst Jack Ince, to inform the analysis of alternatives.

The T-AOE(X) will be built with a double hull, a practice not required for Navy ships but required by law for commercial liquid tankers. The new ship will be highly automated and include quarters for civilian mariners, who require larger, private rooms. Unlike the Supply-class AOEs, the T-AOE(X) will be capable of offloading the entire munitions load of an aircraft carrier.

The propulsion system for the ship has not yet been selected, but it will not be a steam plant. Gas-turbine direct drive or electric drive are two possible options.

The shipbuilders most interested in bidding on the T-AOE(X) are the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO) — a San Diego-based unit of General Dynamics — and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, headquartered in Pascagoula, Miss. Both have built logistics or sealift ships in recent years.

According to a Northrop Grumman official, the T-AOE(X) will be fitted with the Shipboard Warehouse Management System, which uses radio frequency identification to quickly locate and retrieve parts and supplies in the storage areas of the ship.

Stephen S. Clarey, NASSCO’s director of marketing and business development, said, “The first phase of the [Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo/ammunition ship design] was devoted to cargo-handling systems to improve the flow of cargo throughout the ship. The systems will fit seamlessly in T-AOE(X).

“We consider the T-AOE(X) one of our market opportunities,” he added. NASSCO built the Supply-class AOEs and is now building the first two of six Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo/ammunition ships, with an option to build six more. Clarey said the T-AOE(X) will be designed largely to commercial specifications and standards, but will feature such non-commercial systems as torpedo countermeasures and shock hardening.

Another design criteria for the T-AOE(X) is to support the higher sortie-generation rates required in the Navy’s new aircraft carrier design, CVN 21, Kaskin said. An increased capability of the T-AOE(X) to transfer supplies more rapidly will free the carrier for more flight operations and enable it to sustain the resulting higher consumption rate of aviation fuel and ordnance, he said.

The new carrier will have no engine overhaul facility for the Joint Strike Fighter, Clarey said, so the T-AOE(X) will need the capability to transfer the heavy engines to and from the carrier.

Because the T-AOE(X) is an auxiliary ship, the Navy could fund it through the National Defense Sealift Fund, said Ron O’Rourke, a naval analyst with the Congressional Research Service. The Sealift Fund is managed separately from the Navy budget and was established by Congress in fiscal year 1993 to build, operate and maintain DoD sealift ships. However, Congress has permitted the Navy to fund some T-AKE ships through the Sealift Fund, even though they are Navy auxiliaries rather than sealift ships. Congress has signaled its support for funding other auxiliaries procured through the Sealift Fund, as well.

The Sealift Fund enables the government to pay for ships incrementally. Ships procured through the Navy budget are nominally required to be fully funded in the year they are purchased.

O’Rourke cautioned that although the ongoing analysis of alternatives is directed at refining the characteristics of the T-AOE(X), broader issues may alter the direction of the program. He cited such examples as the Joint Command and Control Ship concept, which morphed into a command module on a prepositioning ship, and the changing design of the LHA(R), an amphibious assault ship. The outcome of these programs could affect the design of the T-AOE(X).

The Replenishment Fleet

Fast Combat Support Ships (AOE, T-AOE)

Accompany carrier strike groups and deliver dry goods, provisions, ammunition and fuel as needed. The four Supply-class T-AOEs have been transferred to the Military Sealift Command and will continue in service. The four Sacramento-class AOEs are being retired over the next two years. Eventually they will be replaced by the four T-AOE(X) ships.

Dry Cargo/Ammunition Ships (T-AKE)

Carry dry stores, ammunition and a limited amount of fuel from shore to ship. The 12 planned Lewis and Clark-class T-AKEs are scheduled to replace the Sirius- and Mars-class combat stores ships and Kilauea-class ammunition ships beginning in 2006.

Combat Stores Ships (T-AFS)

The three Sirius-class and three Mars-class T-AFSs deliver dry goods and provisions and limited amounts of fuel from shore to ship. ¦ Ammunition Ships (T-AE) The four Kilauea-class ammunition ships carry ordnance and other dry stores from shore to ship.

Fleet Oilers (T-AO)

The 13 Henry J. Kaiser-class T-AOs in service carry primarily diesel and jet fuel and lube oil, as well as a limited amount of dry stores and fresh and frozen provisions. One additional ship is maintained in reduced operating status and two others are in reserve.