Army Transfers Joint High Speed Vessels to Navy
The Department of Defense announced today that the departments of the Navy
and Army signed a Memorandum of Agreement May 2 transferring all five of the
Army’s Joint High Speed Vessels to the Navy.
The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command will own and operate all 10 JHSVs,
which will be designated as USNS and crewed by civil service and contract
mariners.
Initially, the JHSV program was envisioned to have five of the first 10
JHSVs assigned to the Army and the remainder to the Navy. However, at the
Army/Navy Warfighter Talks in December 2010, both services agreed to
transfer the Army’s five JHSVs upon signing of this MOA. All 10 JHSVs will
now be assigned to the Navy.
MSC has been slated to operate the Navy JHSVs since August 2008. In May
2010, MSC announced that the vessels would each have a core crew of 21
mariners – civil service mariners on the first JHSVs and civilian contract
mariners on the remaining ones.
In keeping with that decision, the first four JHSVs will be crewed by civil
service mariners and the following six by civilian contract mariners.
“This agreement with the Army demonstrates our commitment to reducing
redundancies and saving money for the taxpayer,” said Secretary of the Navy
Ray Mabus. “This is a responsible step that will ensure our military remains
the most formidable fighting force the world has ever known.”
MSC operates approximately 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that
replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically
preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and
supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.