By Adrian Schulte, Military Sealift Command Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Military Sealift Command (MSC) accepted responsibility for submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) Feb. 1. Cable, which is homeported in Guam, serves as a floating maintenance and logistics facility for Navy submarines.
Cable will operate as a commissioned ship with a U.S. Navy captain in charge of a hybrid crew, consisting of 157 civil service mariners (CIVMARs) and 206 uniformed Navy personnel. Other uniformed personnel will maintain and operate the on board repair facility.
Prior to the transfer, Cable was crewed by approximately 599 Navy personnel plus an embarked repair department that brought the total uniformed number to 1,363.
Operating ships with CIVMARs frees uniformed Sailors to perform critical jobs in the combatant fleet.
Cable's CIVMARs will be responsible for the ship's deck department, navigation, engineering plant, galley and steward services and will also have primary responsibility for communications and ship supply functions.
The more than 200 uniformed personnel assigned as crew members will operate the shipboard information systems, maintaining defensive weapons systems and coordinating supply functions with civilian mariners.
All departments under CIVMARs leadership have been reconfigured to combine military and civilian personnel. The transition from military to civilian will continue through the conversion period when ship's navigation, machinery automation and habitability will be modified for CIVMAR operation.
The command ship USS Mount Whitney (AS 39) and submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (LCC 20) are the only other MSC ships that retain their commissioned status and operate with a similar leadership and crewing configuration.
"We've had a great experience working with the CIVMARs and Navy personnel aboard our other submarine tender," said Rusty Bishop, MSC special mission ships program manager. "We are pleased to bring another great ship with an important mission to our program."
Military Sealift Command operates approximately 110 noncombatant, merchant mariner-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.
