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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bilow who wrote (44981)	9/18/2002 12:30:55 AM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi all; The Navy's Sealift program is not being used to prepare for a secret war with Iraq. Instead, all of the fast sealift cargo ships are in "reduced" status, which means ready to use after a few days work, but not doing anything. All the large medium-speed roll-on / roll-off ships are in "reduced" status except for the Benanvidez which is still under construction. The only significant Sealift ships moving around are the tankers, but the US military burns fuel constantly, even in peacetime. Here's the full list of ships, with displacements: USNS Name Displ. Type Status -------------------- ------ ------------ ------- Algol T-AKR 287 55,350 Fast Sealift Reduced Altair T-AKR 291 55,350 Fast Sealift Reduced Antares T-AKR 294 55,350 Fast Sealift Reduced Bellatrix T-AKR 288 55,355 Fast Sealift Reduced Capella T-AKR 293 55,355 Fast Sealift Reduced Denebola T-AKR 289 55,355 Fast Sealift Reduced Pollux T-AKR 290 55,355 Fast Sealift Reduced Regulus T-AKR 292 55,355 Fast Sealift Reduced Benavidez T-AKR 306 62,069 LMS Ro-Ro Building Brittin T-AKR 305 62,069 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Fisher T-AKR 301 62,069 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Gilliland T-AKR 298 65,000 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Gordon T-AKR 296 65,000 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Hope,Bob T-AKR 300 62,069 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Mendonca T-AKR 303 62,069 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Pililaau T-AKR 304 62,069 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Seay T-AKR 302 62,069 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Shugart T-AKR 295 54,298 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Yano T-AKR 297 54,298 LMS Ro-Ro Reduced Buck,Paul T-AOT 1122 39,624 Tanker Pacific Cobb,Samu T-AOT 1123 41,500 Tanker Pacific Gus,Darne T-AOT 1121 39,624 Tanker Atlantic Gianella T-AOT 1125 39,624 Tanker Europe Green Wav T-AK 2050 9,521 Container Far East Matthiese T-AOT 1124 39,624 Tanker Far East Montauk 5,780 Tanker Far East Sagamore 7,100 Container Far East Sea Mark III 550 Down Range Atlantic Strong Texan 5,454 Container Pacific msc.navy.mil The Bob Hope recently went through practice against gas attack in Charleston: msc.navy.mil This link shows that the MSC guys are training rather than secretly moving huge amounts of materiel to the Middle East (what would Congress say, LOL!!!): msc.navy.mil The USNS Comfort, rather than getting ready for wounded in the Gulf, is fixing Estonian denture problems in the Baltic: msc.navy.mil Rescuing dogs in the Pacific (not between the US and the Middle East, LOL!): msc.navy.mil Read about all the shipments around the Middle East here: (not much) msc.navy.mil They used the Denebola to house and feed emergency personnel in November 2001 at NYC: amo-union.org There has been no activation of the "reduced" vessels. Nor has shipping been particularly good this summer: amo-union.org -- Carl

To: Bilow who wrote (44981)	9/18/2002 12:38:33 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Ooooooooh, you're a tough cookie, counselor! Not exactly. My uncle (mother's mother's brother) was in the Merchant Marine. To that extent, it's in my blood. The fascinating part of all this is that despite the "secret agent" nature of all the operation, you're nevertheless in favor of it. Unlike some on this thread, I trust the government when it comes to covert affairs. This is really odd, considering the fact that many on the thread would rather commit seppeku than trust the government. I, on the other hand, as a libertarian, would also rather commit seppeku than trust the government. Go figure.