BEYOND THE HORIZON

1 November 2023       #18

MERCHANT FLEET

            The Maritime Administration (MARAD) is responsible for all American waterborne transportation including ports, infrastructure, shipping, security, safety, vessel operations, and environment. This significant element of the Department of Transportation is currently headed by a Chief Administrator, Ann Phillips, a retired Navy RADM who spent 31 years in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer. 

ANN PHILLIPS

            Tamekia Flack, Deputy Director, was named after two years as Chief Counsel for MARAD, and a career working as head counsel to the Coast Guard and with the Army’s Judge Advocate’s Office. She graduated from Dillard University (a historically Black University in New Orleans) and Tulane College of Law. 

TAMEKIA FLACK 

            G. Jack Kammerer is the Executive Director of MARAD. A West Point Grad, Mr. Kammerer earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration at the JFK School at Harvard and a Master’s in Military Arts at the US Army Command and General Staff School. He was a fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He spent his career working for the VA and sundry military-oriented offices in Washington. 

JACK KAMMERER

The Courts are having a difficult time defining a ‘Seaman” as a large pile of lawsuits tower over Washington. A person working on a boat at sea is a pretty easy concept; but what about a person repairing a boat that is at the dock, or a person on a floating crane that is unloading a barge? The maritime shipping business is very dangerous and injuries are frequent. What entity is liable? The Jones Act uses the word “seaman” and now the courts are having to decide who falls under that category.

GRAY FLEET

            The Chinese continue harassment of any and every thing in the Asian waterways. A Chinese Coast Guard boat deliberately collided with a Philippine Supply Boat UNIZA MAY 2 that was supplying food and equipment to a stranded LST, (BRP SIERRA MADRE LS-57), aground on one of the Spratly Islands. Then, BRP CABRA (MRRV-4409) was rammed on the port side by a Chinese Maritime Militia vessel as the Philippines continued to supply their stranded ship. 

            The Chinese consider the Spratly Islands within their waters and economic zone. The Spratly Islands are a series of small atolls, reefs, islands, and islets halfway southwest between Viet Nam and the Philippines. Viet Nam, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei all claim ownership. While most of the Spratly’s are uninhabited, the region is a very rich fishing source. 

            In the movie reels of World War II, we see LSTs (Long, Slow Targets) running up to the shore so tanks, heavy equipment, and men can land. Those flat-bottom ships gave new meaning to “rock and roll”. Unfortunately, these cargo behemoths were not even given names but only numbers. Such an insult. 

            DARPA, the Defense Department think tank, has drawn up plans for a totally new concept for amphibious landing of heavy resources, a water-skimming, semi-aquatic, boat/plane named the Liberty Lifter. This beast will take off and land on water, fly about 100 feet above the oceans pushed by 9 prop-driven engines, and be able to carry 100 tons or more cargo in a sea state 5. Like the LST, this conceptual machine can carry material to the shore and easily back off. While the prime idea is to fly at 100 feet, it is deemed to ascend to 10,000 feet if necessary. It has greater carrying capabilities than a Boeing C-17 Globemaster.

INLAND WATERWAYS

            According to the WATERWAYS JOURNAL, the life expectancy of a barge is about 25 years, and about 7,425 barges on the Mississippi are reaching that age. Unfortunately, the cost of steel has risen to three times the pre-Covid rates, and the cost of building new barges is no longer profitable.       

            Barge companies have made a difficult decision to re-side their existing fleet hoping to gain several more years of productivity. C & C Marine’s repair division recently hired Nick Bergeron to head their facilities because of his experience in such endeavors and because C&C has the on-land site, the state-of-the-art building, and equipment to work on 25 barges at a time. It is saving barge companies plenty of money.

            Old Man River ( the Mississippi) earned editorial acknowledgment and appreciation for its essential role in human life in the United States. It is the primary source of drinking water for millions from Northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico as it is the watershed for everything between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains.

            The river provides employment to fishermen, the marine industry, and a plethora of businesses along its bank. The river also supports over 35,000 jobs in the  shipping industry and pumps $12.6 billion into the economy annually. Furthermore, it is a beautiful river. 

            A young student at Louisiana Tech who grew up around barges and tugs considered the dangers to riverboat workers who happened to fall overboard between the barge and dock or between barges. Invariably, the person was crushed. He was a mechanical engineering major and used 3D printing and a CAD program to design a 40’ rubberized wedge that can be deployed in an emergency and maintain a space until the person is rescued.

            A floating guide wall at the Wilson Lock and Dam on the Tennessee River collapsed during a hurricane two years ago. Because of Congressional delays, lack of funding,  and a plethora of different opinions on repairs have forced barges to take over 13 hours to transit the lock. Downbound tows can only be done during daylight hours; therefore, only one per day can traverse the lock. 

HISTORY

            When we think of US Naval disasters, we ordinarily think of Pearl Harbor or The Battle of Savo Island; but, one of the biggest losses for the Navy came not in combat, but in a peacetime FUBAR of a SNAFU. USS FULLER (DD-297 joined the USS LA VALLENT (DD-315) and 12 other destroyers of DESRON 11 sailed southbound along the coast of California on September 8, 1923. 

Captain Edwin Watson

            The squadron was running at full speed despite heavy fog and a dark, star-less night because the  Commodore, CAPT. Edwin Watson,  wanted to simulate wartime conditions as good training. His ship, the USS DELPHY (DD-261) was, per custom, responsible for navigation under the ship’s captain, LTCDR Donald Hunter, rather than the ship’s navigator. Hunter was an experienced skipper and good navigator but without stars to sight, he used dead reckoning. Unfortunately, he was unaware of very strong  Eastward currents caused by a Japanese earthquake. Hunter’s regular navigator, LT(jg) Lawrence Blodgett, reported that his own calculations using a radio bearing did not coincide with his skipper’s. Hunter dismissed this report because he had no trust in the new-fangled radio detection finders.

            Young Riley Jackson, a year out of the Naval Academy, serving as OOD, later said it was like being the conductor on a 14-car train hurtling South at 20 knots. Spotting a white light, the Quartermaster stated that the USS WOODBURY (DD-309 ) was turning left and the following ship, FARRAGUT (DD-300),was commencing its own turn. Jackson ordered left rudder and sent a man to awaken the captain, as per orders. Before the skipper could hit the wheelhouse, Jackson noted that the FARRAGUT had suddenly gone from full speed to 2/3rd  speed, stopped, and suddenly back to 1/3^rd.  Jackson immediately ordered the telegraph operator to mimic the ship in front of them. As the Captain arrived on the bridge, he was shocked to see a ship pass immediately across their bow, 180 yards later they saw another destroyer on its side, and then they too ran hard aground after smacking into the FARRAGUT.

            Jackson’s FULLER immediately took on 4 feet of water and steam lines ruptured in the forward fire room, while the aft engine room was flooding. The young officer requested that they flood both magazines for fear that the raging sea would detonate the ammunition. Once that was accomplished, he ordered that all crew report topside and in life jackets and prepare to abandon ship.

            The DELPHY (DD-261) was the first to slam into the rocks at full speed while the following ship, the USS S.P. LEE (DD-310 ) made a sudden turn to port only to run aground, and the next ship, USS YOUNG (DD-312) sliced through the boulders killing 20 of her crew as she capsized. Like falling dominoes, the line of vessels plowed, one after the other, into the rocks. NICHOLAS (DD-311), WOODBURY (DD-309), and CHAUNCY (DD 296) went aground, although the latter was trying to rescue sailors when she hit land.

            WOODBURY’s crew abandoned ship by simply climbing down to the rock on which the ship was impaled. The FULLER’s skipper took a heaving line, jumped overboard, and swam to the rock holding WOODBURY affixed the line so his crew could go hand-over-hand to the rocks. Civilian merchant ships came along to rescue many of the crew.

            Overall, 7 ships were destroyed and 23 men died in the worst peacetime loss in Navy history. The Commodore lost his seniority, three other captains received letters of reprimand. At his court-martial, Captain Watson heroically and honorably took full responsibility for the accident. He was assigned to the 14^th Naval District where he finished his career. He retired to New York where he was listed in the New York Social Register.

ENVIRONMENT

            After tons of sad environmental news, one good note finally came out. The saltwater ingress up the Mississippi River is finally in retreat after the summer drought allowed the Gulf of Mexico waters to flow up the river. The Red River flow increased and pushed the brine backward, and the Corps of Engineers built a series of sand stills to mitigate problems. Late summer rain was wonderful for the Louisiana populous. 

            Part of the intrusion of brackish water is due to the deepening of the Mississippi River to allow larger vessels to enter it. The worst flooding of the freshwater was up to Mile 119 (interestingly, it was long before the Corps started doing much of anything at the Mouth if the Mississippi). Nevertheless, all the cities below New Orleans will not have to invest in piping water from upstream. The Corps is studying for plans to permanently mitigate saltwater migration.