Approaches to Strategic Sealift Readiness
Abstract
To fight in remote areas, the U.S. military must be able to move large amounts of cargo as required by the operational plans of combatant commanders. Strategic sealift - a fleet of 61 commercial-standard ships - plays a central role in meeting these transportation requirements. Given the importance of the strategic sealift fleet, the U.S. Navy is interested in ensuring that these ships are ready to respond when the need arises. The fleet is managed by two organizations, the Military Sealift Command, the naval component of the U.S. Transportation Command, and the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Navy wanted a better understanding of how the different management models used by these organizations affected the readiness of the fleet. But the research quickly pointed to the fact that other factors - including how requirements are determined, material readiness, and personnel readiness - affected strategic sealift readiness as much as or more than organizational management. As a result, this report touches on all these topics as they collectively pertain to readiness of the strategic sealift fleet and offers recommendations on how readiness can be improved. The findings and conclusions presented in this report will be of interest both to U.S. Transportation Command as it determines readiness for meeting operational requirements and to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in determining resource and investment priorities to meet these requirements.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1086687
Entities
People
- Bradley Martin
- Roland J. Yardley
Organizations
- RAND Corporation