The Savings in Operating Costs and Billets From Civilian Manning of Navy Underway Replenishment Ships

This paper shows that the Navy could save considerable cost and billets by operating more of its underway replenishment ships with civilian mariners under the Military Sealift Command MSC. By transferring to MSC all of the replenishment ships still under Navy operation, the Navy would save between 10,000 and 12,000 billets and between 280 million and 380 million in annual operating cost. The variation is due to two uncertainties not estimated by the study the sea-shore rotation statistics of the shipboard ratings the Navys target of no more than 50 percent of the time at sea is often not met, and the essentiality of the tasks the shipboard ratings perform while ashore. Using small civilian crews sometimes raises Navy concerns about issues such as ship safety and personnel availability, productivity, and reliability. However, the recent experience of replenishment ships operated by the Navy, MSC, and the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary provides little evidence to support such fears.