SEALIFT CAPABILITIES AND SEA SHED

Projecting our power to far corners of the earth depends on a strategic mobility triad composed of: airlift, prepositioned equipment, and sealift. Airlift can move personnel effectively and limited supplies quickly over great distances. Prepositioned equipment and supplies can extend the effectiveness of those personnel if the circumstances are right, and if we have chosen our positioning sites well. Sealift will provision the lion's share of any protracted engagement, and the ships of the Merchant Marine are a key element in our sealift resources.

This paper describes various ways that the Merchant Fleet is being made more responsive to its possible role as a naval auxiliary, and it describes a new concept called SEA SHED which can quickly expand the versatility of Containerships.

Containerships have revolutionized marine transportation and they now represent a large and growing portion of the Commercial Fleet. They are limited in the types of cargo they can carry, however, excluding much of the larger equipment required by military units. SEA SHED is a cargo module which fits into the cell guides of a Containership and effectively converts it to a 'tween deck, break-bulk ship which can carry almost all military equipment.