Sea Stories
Military Sealift Command
MSC Tanker
TAO-189 John Lenthal
As I went through my pictures of my MSC days, I realized there were too
many fond memories to share on only one page. You'll find three MSC
topics in the list to the left, one for training, one for
people, and one for life at sea.
Military Sealift Command is a quasi military organization. The ships
are owned by the US Navy and designed to replenish stores, weapons,
diesel, jet fuel, etc to regular Navy ships while underway.
However the ships are
crewed with civilians - Civilians from all walks of life.
I served on board the John Lenthal, TAO-189, a tanker, as an Able Bodied
Seaman (AB). I was a watchstander and one of three lead UNREP helmsmen.
UNREP stands for Underway replenishment.
The ships being replenished are from
100 to 200 feet to either side of the replenishing ship, very close
considering we were an 800 foot tanker. The UNREP helmsman must hold
course to plus or minus one half of a degree in 12 foot seas.
It's far too dangerous to use an autopilot. Try it
next time you go out on a boat. If you ever varied more than two degrees,
you were relieved of duty.
The pictures on this page are cropped from a full size picture which
gives a better perspective to what is being shown. To see a picture
full size, simply click on the picture and it
will appear full size in a new browser.
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Here you see the John Lenthal sandwiched between a destroyer and an
aircraft carrier. It's easy to see why the tight steering tolerances
are so important.
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On the left you see an aircraft carrier coming up alongside the Lenthal. This
can be done in quite a large sea state.
On the right you see the carrier alongside.
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On the left you see the bridge.
On the right you see the starboard wing bridge
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At the left you see me at my work station on the helm on the bridge.
It is huge, the largest I've ever
seen.
On the right you see the aft steering station. In critical situations
the aft steering station was always manned in case the bridge lost control.
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The aft steering station is shown here.
We manned aft steering (emergency steering) whenever we were
in tight quarters or in harbors.
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This was my state room. Every person on board lives in a one
person room and shares the head (toilet & shower) with the
room next door.
The state rooms are very big. You have plenty of space.
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You can see how we replenished vessels alongside with fuel.
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Here you see forklift training. Precise maneuvering of a
forklift in very tight quarter on a rolling and pitching deck is no
easy matter. It takes lots of practice. You had to prove yourself
on shore and then pass a rigorous test at sea again.
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Again you see the process of underway replenishment.
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On the left you see the officers mess.
On the right you see the petty officers mess.
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On the right you see the crew's mess
On the right you see the room of a
homesteader. They literally moved in furniture and belongings to make
the ship their new home.
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On the right you see another ship being replenished underway.
On the right you see the relative size of the equipment to a man.
You have to enlarge
the picture to see the men.
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Here you see more ships being replenished with fuel. Not all
ships were US Navy.
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On the left you see the deck equipment of the John Lenthal.
On the right you see the
John Grumman alongside for practice maneuvers. The Gruman is a sister
ship to the John Lenthal. The Captain of the Grumman has quite a
sense of humor flying a pirate's flag.
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On the left you see the approach of an MSC Weapons Carrier.
On the right you see night operations.
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Here you see another ship being replenished with fuel. Not all
ships were US Navy.
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