Want to scare the neighborhood?

[Nosferatu]

I might need to get a few to point at the gates on the MT property. Maybe add a motion detect laser.

That should keep the fat ATV bois away.

 

[gmerkt]

I also wasn't saying that the US doesn't use commercial ships. We are in fact using them, but we are also using US government owned ships simply due to the fact that some equipment requires special handling, stowing requirements (that commercial container ships are not suitable for), as well as loading/offloading expertise and specialized equipment to do so. There are also security concerns where non-military commercial merchants may not be suitable or cleared for.

How US military equipment for Ukraine is shipped across Atlantic

A flood of tanks, military vehicles and weapons systems is flowing from the U.S. to Europe. Shipowner ARC plays a pivotal transport role.

www.freightwaves.com

government owned military assets

What vessels would these be?

 

[Sxsnuf]

They must have been "discovered"!
Started out at $29.99, then to $35.99, lastest link has them at $45.99.
Brandonflation at work, I suppose.
They look less appealing, to me, with each link.

 

[MikeInOr]

I had a couple surplus munition tubes like those a buddy gave me 30 or so years ago. I kept them around for 10 or so years and never could figure out what to do with them so I gave them away to another buddy. They are kind of cool but really inconvenient for trying to store anything, Actually digging a hole to bury them in is a hell of a lot of work! Getting them out of the ground would be even more work!

A piece of PVC pipe and a couple of end caps are much better for storing fishing rods! A whole lot lighter too.

 

[Yarome]

What vessels would these be?

"Military Sealift Command ships are made up of a core fleet of ships owned by the United States Navy and others under long-term-charter augmented by short-term or voyage-chartered ships"

"The Navy-owned ships carry blue and gold stack colors, are in service with the prefix USNS"

"Military Sealift Command operates around 110 ships"

Inventory

 

[Spitpatch]

Found some in my local hardware store as well.

View attachment 1906791

Everywhere now! Better start sprayin' for 'em.

 

[gmerkt]

"Military Sealift Command ships are made up of a core fleet of ships owned by the United States Navy and others under long-term-charter augmented by short-term or voyage-chartered ships"

"The Navy-owned ships carry blue and gold stack colors, are in service with the prefix USNS"

"Military Sealift Command operates around 110 ships"

The "core fleet" largely consists of about 48 ships that are scattered around the US and a few overseas that are in the so-called Ready Reserve Force. These are MARAD ships owned by the US Gov't. But, most of them are at least 40 years old, some near 50. A few are permanently tied up at the MARAD boneyard in Texas. Most of the RRF is on stand-by for military emergencies and training, not used for regular transport. They are kind of a repository for ship officer graduates of the US Merchant Marine Academy.

Some of the Sealift Command vessels are not suitable for general transportation of war goods, such as cable layers, hospital ships, tugs, and other such auxiliary ships.

The rest of the Sealift Command fleet consists of chartered, commercial vessels. Which are not military. I don't know the following for a fact, but I suspect that even these may not be used for direct shipments of military wares intended for Ukraine. Because of political sensitivities. But may be used to back-fill materiel in Europe that we've previously given directly to Ukraine from existing stocks there.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Fyi also on Amazon for same price ($24.99).

 

[Yarome]

The "core fleet" largely consists of about 48 ships that are scattered around the US and a few overseas that are in the so-called Ready Reserve Force. These are MARAD ships owned by the US Gov't. But, most of them are at least 40 years old, some near 50. A few are permanently tied up at the MARAD boneyard in Texas. Most of the RRF is on stand-by for military emergencies and training, not used for regular transport. They are kind of a repository for ship officer graduates of the US Merchant Marine Academy.

Some of the Sealift Command vessels are not suitable for general transportation of war goods, such as cable layers, hospital ships, tugs, and other such auxiliary ships.

The rest of the Sealift Command fleet consists of chartered, commercial vessels. Which are not military. I don't know the following for a fact, but I suspect that even these may not be used for direct shipments of military wares intended for Ukraine. Because of political sensitivities. But may be used to back-fill materiel in Europe that we've previously given directly to Ukraine from existing stocks there.

You must be right. The MSC has zero USN transport capability.

 

[Knobgoblin]

Wear Vietnam era fatigues at 1am in the morning with bright work lights and dig a hole in your front yard. How many of your neighbors would be scared to turn on their lights while they call the police?

Gotta sell it with a good Playlist

 

[gmerkt]

You must be right. The MSC has zero USN transport capability.

Well, they have transport capability. Remember however that it already had on-going mission requirements to support the US Navy and reserve availability before the Ukraine war started. Not so much left to give over to shipping extra stuff to Ukraine. Which is a war that we don't yet want to call our own.

After WW2, the US kept large merchant vessel reserve fleets of surplus ships in storage. When the Korean War came along, it wasn't too difficult to haul many of those out of storage, man them with US Merchant Marine crews, and set them in motion. This was true to a lesser extent in the Vietnam War, but the shift to contracted commercial ships had begun. By the time the Gulf Wars came along, those obsolete, surplus ships were mostly gone and those remaining were very costly to restore to service. Contracted commercial shipping was pretty normal.

These days, the US Merchant Marine is almost non existent. Labor and regulatory costs have driven most of that business into foreign hands. Merchant shipbuilding in the US is almost dead. The MARAD has a hard time finding seamen for the RRF. These days, who wants to sit on the beach waiting for a job on a US flag ship? Those big RORO ships that are carrying military vehicles to Europe under a US flag, they are owned by a Norwegian parent company. US maritime law requires that US DoD cargoes must be shipped on a US flagged vessel. 46 US Code is complex, there are rules regarding requirements for US citizens being seamen aboard US flagged ships, depending.

Maersk (MML) is another US subsidiary of a foreign company with about 20 US flagged container ships. They employ about 700 US nationals as mariners, but that's a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands sailing on Chinese flagged ships. They set up MML in 1983 for the express purpose of gaining US Navy work. Considerations of sensitivity of some cargoes isn't an issue; as necessary, military goods are accompanied by US Naval personnel on board contracted shipping.

 

[gmerkt]

They must have been "discovered"!
Started out at $29.99, then to $35.99, lastest link has them at $45.99.

I've seen this phenomenon on ebay. A seller has a quantity of goods, they put them up for X price. They get swarmed with orders, and their next thought, is, "Maybe I didn't ask enough for these." So they bump the price or switch from a fixed price to auction format. Price discovery.