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Logistics page 80 top
Caption: Seaman John Dahlgreen unhooks shroud lines from crates while Seaman Phillip Rasnake records their arrival on his clipboard in 1969. (Naval History and Heritage Command)

 

Seaborne Supplies

America’s naval and merchant ships mounted a monumental oceangoing logistics effort from 1965 to 1973. The MSTS (renamed the Military Sealift Command in 1970) enabled the United States to sustain an eight-year conflict, 7,000 miles from American shores. Forming a “steel bridge” across the vast Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Merchant Marine transported 99% of the ammunition and fuel and 95% of the supplies, vehicles, and construction materials employed by allied forces in the war. The effort came with a cost: the enemy sank eleven U.S. merchant ships during the war.