Re: Gaza - Israel Conflict ~ Naval Aspects
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:21 pm
U.S. Still Developing Gaza Pier Details as Crews Work to Prepare Components
ABOARD MOTOR VESSEL ROY A. BENAVIDEZ – Two weeks after President Joe Biden ordered the Pentagon to build a pier to ferry humanitarian aid to the war-torn residents of Gaza, the steel chunks that will make up the promised lifeline have been coming together in Newport News, Va.
Army, Navy and civilian stevedores are now massed at the Port of Virginia’s Newport News Marine Terminal working 24 hours a day. They are loading the pieces of the modular causeway and other equipment that will build the pier to Gaza and the floating dock two miles offshore. Under the current plan, the cargo ships will drop off aid at offshore to be ferried to the pier by U.S. Army watercraft, U.S. Navy Capt. Jamie Murdock, commodore of Military Sealift Command Atlantic, told reporters on Friday.
Brian Carroll and the ship’s chief engineer were on vacation when they got the call to ready MV Roy A. Benavidez to sail. Formerly a Navy supply ship, the 35,000-tom roll-on/roll-off cargo ship was transferred to the Maritime Administration in 2022 to join the national ready reserve fleet. The Bob Hope-class cargo ship has an internal cargo deck with the storage space of about two-and-a-half Super Wal-Marts and will ferry the pier parts from Newport News to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Last week the Army started moving the causeway pieces 18 miles down the James River from Joint Base Langley Fort Eustis, Va., to nestle against the starboard side of the massive cargo ship built for hauling tanks around the world. A pair of warping tugs pushed the Army’s modular causeway system down the river. The tugs resemble the pieced of the causeway with a tollbooth perched on top.
Continues, including photos, at - https://news.usni.org/2024/03/18/u-s-st ... -assembled
ABOARD MOTOR VESSEL ROY A. BENAVIDEZ – Two weeks after President Joe Biden ordered the Pentagon to build a pier to ferry humanitarian aid to the war-torn residents of Gaza, the steel chunks that will make up the promised lifeline have been coming together in Newport News, Va.
Army, Navy and civilian stevedores are now massed at the Port of Virginia’s Newport News Marine Terminal working 24 hours a day. They are loading the pieces of the modular causeway and other equipment that will build the pier to Gaza and the floating dock two miles offshore. Under the current plan, the cargo ships will drop off aid at offshore to be ferried to the pier by U.S. Army watercraft, U.S. Navy Capt. Jamie Murdock, commodore of Military Sealift Command Atlantic, told reporters on Friday.
Brian Carroll and the ship’s chief engineer were on vacation when they got the call to ready MV Roy A. Benavidez to sail. Formerly a Navy supply ship, the 35,000-tom roll-on/roll-off cargo ship was transferred to the Maritime Administration in 2022 to join the national ready reserve fleet. The Bob Hope-class cargo ship has an internal cargo deck with the storage space of about two-and-a-half Super Wal-Marts and will ferry the pier parts from Newport News to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Last week the Army started moving the causeway pieces 18 miles down the James River from Joint Base Langley Fort Eustis, Va., to nestle against the starboard side of the massive cargo ship built for hauling tanks around the world. A pair of warping tugs pushed the Army’s modular causeway system down the river. The tugs resemble the pieced of the causeway with a tollbooth perched on top.
Continues, including photos, at - https://news.usni.org/2024/03/18/u-s-st ... -assembled