Army’s navy gets new supply vessel

The Army has a navy in Hawaii, and on Tuesday it formally welcomed its third 273-foot logistics support vessel, a flat-bottom cargo transport ideal for the islands and shallow-water littorals and ports of the Pacific.

The General Brehon B. Somervell, also known as LSV-3, arrived in August from Tacoma, Wash., but was adding to its crew and needed some maintenance, delaying the welcome and blessing a bit, officials said.

The LSV-3 joins the LSV-2 CW3 Harold C. Clinger and LSV-4 Lt. Gen. William B. Bunker at Pier 5 on the Hickam side of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

“This is a job that is often described as the best-kept secret in the Army,” Maj. Gen. Susan Davidson, who commands the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, said during the ceremony on the more than 9,000 square feet of deck space on LSV-3.

She said the ships are self-sustaining with their own medics, cooks and engineers.

The Army has a fleet of about 300 active and reserve watercraft, including tugs, landing craft, causeway ferries and floating cranes, officials said. The flat-bottom LSVs, with a crew of about 31, can haul 24 M1A2 Abrams tanks or 50 20-foot cargo containers.

“We have 36 nations in the region and six of the world’s largest armies,” Davidson said. “However, many places do not have industrial ports.When our larger commercial vessels cannot get into those areas, vessels like the LSV, with a shorter draft, can make that connection.”

The Army has just eight of the LSVs, which have big bow and stern doors that provide roll-on, roll-off capability. The land-based force is seeking to be more expeditionary and self-reliant with any future fight in the Pacific expected to be against highly capable rivals who can cut off traditional access and supply routes.

The Army in September awarded Vigor Works in Oregon a 10-year, $980 million contract for a new generation of landing craft. The Maneuver Support Vessel (Light) will replace the service’s fleet of Vietnam-era Landing Craft Mechanized boats and will be able to operate in 5 feet of water.

“The range of operating environments our soldiers face today — and will face in the future — continues to grow more diverse,” Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Drushal, Army chief of transportation, said in September. “Our mariners need modern, capable vessels that can carry today’s soldiers and equipment. Our commanders need the flexibility to maneuver in many different environments, including maneuvering from the sea.”

Many of the trips the Hawaii-based LSVs make are in support of Army and Marine Corps exercises at Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island. But in 2015 the CW3 Harold C. Clinger, LSV-2, conducted the first Army watercraft trans-Pacific voyage to Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia in support of the Army’s Pacific Pathways, a series of linked exercises.

In 2016 LSV-2 provided sustainment for the 25th Infantry Division as part of Pacific Pathways by transporting equipment to Japan. Spc. Brittany Richard, 21, was on the 2016 transit, which took 28 days and saw 15-foot waves.

“It would have taken closer to 21, but it was typhoon season and tsunami season, so we were avoiding storms,” she said.

Another LSV that was was based in Hawaii, the Army Reserve’s 314-foot SSGT Robert T. Kuroda, LSV-7, left over a year ago and is in long-term maintenance in Tacoma, officials said.

The ship is named after a 442nd Regimental Combat Team soldier from Hawaii who led a charge against enemy positions in France in World War II before he was killed. Kuroda received the Medal of Honor.