Command and control of civilian contract manned Navy fleet support and Military Sealift Command ships.

Abstract

This study considers the decline of seagoing jobs in the U. S. maritime industry. A remedy for this decline proposed by the maritime unions is the civilian contract manning of Navy fleet support and Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships. Whether the Navy utilizes civilian contract manning will be influenced, in part, by how the Navy will be able to maintain command and control of ships that are crewed by contract mariners. Questionnaires were provided to maritime trade and labor organizations to determine how various command and control situations would be handled. The responses to the questionnaires form the basis for concluding that the implementation of civilian contract manning is still too general and uncertain for the Navy to accept. Recommendations are that the Navy should maintain its present manning policies of fleet support and MSC ships and continue to require that the specifics of the civilian contract manning proposal be addressed in full.