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Brittin (T-AKR-305)

2000–

Named in honor of Sergeant First Class Nelson Vogel Brittin who was an American combat soldier killed in action during the Korean War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Yonggong-ni, Korea on 7 March 1951.

Nelson Vogel Brittin was born on 31 October 1920. He graduated from Audubon High School in Audubon, N.J. in 1939 and joined the U. S. Army on 7 July 1942.

On 7 March 1951, while serving with Company I, 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, Brittin was in action against enemy forces at Yonggong-ni, Korea. He volunteered to lead his squad up a hill with meager cover against heavy fire and ordered his men to give him support as he tossed a grenade at the nearest enemy position. On returning to his squad, Brittin was knocked down and wounded by an enemy grenade. Refusing medical attention, he replenished his supply of grenades, returned and began hurling grenades into enemy positions and firing at them as they fled. When his weapon jammed, Brittin leaped into a foxhole and killed the occupants with his bayonet and the butt of his rifle. He continued to wipe out foxholes and, noting that his squad had been pinned down, rushed to the rear of a machine gun position, threw a grenade into the nest, ran around to its front and killed all three occupants with his rifle. Less than 100 yards up the hill, his squad again came under fire from another machine gun nest well-flanked by supporting riflemen. Brittin charged the position in an effort to silence this remaining obstacle and ran directly into a burst of automatic weapons fire that killed him instantly. In the brief time before he fell, he had killed 20 enemy soldiers and destroyed four automatic weapons positions.

Nelson Vogel Brittin is interred at Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, N.J.

(T-AKR-305: displacement 62,644; length 950'; beam 106'; draft 35'; speed 24 knots; complement 26 civilian (up to 45) up to 50 active duty; class Bob Hope)

Brittin (T-AKR-305) was laid down on 3 May 1999 at New Orleans, La., by Avondale Shipyard, Inc.; and launched on 11 November 2000. She entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) with a primarily civilian crew on 11 July 2002. A non-combatant Large, Medium-Speed, Roll-on/Roll-off (LMSR) vessel, Brittin and other ships of her class are used to preposition tanks, trucks, various wheeled vehicles and supplies needed to support an army heavy brigade. She is assigned to the MSC Atlantic surge force and is maintained at a 96-hour readiness status in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wa.

During mobilization for the continuing global war on terrorism, the MSC surge fleet of LMSRs and fast sealift ships delivered 10.7 million square feet of cargo. This was approximately forty percent of the total dry cargo carried by all MSC government-owned and chartered ships during fiscal year 2004.

The Surge Project fleet includes 11 LMSRs and eight fast sealift ships that are all maintained in a four-day reduced operating status at various U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports. The LMSRs are especially suited for transporting heavy or bulky unit equipment such as tanks, large wheeled vehicles and helicopters.

Surge Project LMSRs were one of MSCs biggest success stories during the 2004 deployment phase of the Operation Iraqi Freedom troop and equipment rotation. They were activated within three days and maintained an average speed of more than 17 knots throughout the deployment. With a 300,000 square foot capacity per ship, the 11 Surge Project LMSRs delivered more than 7.6 million square feet of cargo in 39 voyages. This averaged 194,540 square feet per ship per voyage. One LMSR effectively replaced six commercial ships chartered during Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91.

Detailed history under construction.

Paul J. Marcello

16 December 2015

Published: Mon Dec 21 09:52:15 EST 2015