Build America’s Crisis Response Fleet
In a public-private partnership, we will establish a fleet of cargo ships purposefully designed and built to deliver Disaster Relief from the Sea.
CRF ships will be fully crewed, fully loaded with thousands of tons of U.S.-manufactured relief supplies supplies and equipment including critical heavy equipment for debris clearance and construction, power and water generation, and mobile and modular medical units. Each CRF ship will be able to get underway in hours, not days or weeks.
How Will We Do It?
USNRFF will achieve this goal in four phases:
Phase 1 - Pilot Program (3 ships): A pilot program with one ship on each U.S. coast using currently available ships.
Phase 2 - Initial Program (9 ships): Expand the pilot program to three ships on each U.S. coast; two fully crewed and fully loaded and one fully crewed but empty and on stand by.
Phase 3 - Build New Ships (9 ships): Applying lessons learned from the pilot program, build new ships purposefully designed and built for crisis response.
Phase 4 - The Global Fleet (± 30 ships): If the program proves successful, expand to a global fleet … a “smart power” tool for American humanitarian power projection.
The Global Fleet: Operational Concept
If the domestic crisis response fleet proves successful, we may be able to expand the CRF program globally with notionally 30 ships in the fleet divided into 7-8 groups. Each group of 4 ships will be assigned to cover one of the three U.S. coasts AND one of six geographic areas of the world. Each of the four ships in the group will remain in an assigned phase for a specified period of time, notionally 6 months. At the end of each phase, ships will move to the next phase so that each group always has one ship in each phase.
Phase 0(Planning). Repair availability and pre-load planning, fully crewed, able to get underway in 96 hours (excepting major repairs, e.g. 5-year drydock).
Phase 1 (Domestic Standby). Fully crewed, fully loaded, port visits, public relations, education, training, exercise support, etc. Underway in under 24 hrs.
Phase 2 (Regional Standby). Fully crewed, fully loaded, port visits, supporting diplomacy, public relations, education, training, etc. Underway in under 24 hrs.
Phase 3 (Development Engagement). Fully crewed, fully loaded, offloading cargo at a predetermined economic development site in a slow, methodical, training evolution. When completed, ship returns to its homeport to enter Phase 0.
What About the Training Ships and Hospital Ships?
Though highly capable, training ships and hospital ships are limited by their design to perform a specific primary mission. The State maritime academies’ training ships are “floating boarding schools” designed to house and teach young students. Each of the State maritime academies rely heavily on the training ship to conduct regular, routine, and required training. Removing the ship from these programs substantially impacts training and educating of those future mariners. The Navy’s hospital ships are “floating field hospitals” designed for treating combat casualties, young Sailors and Marines, well offshore. They are not well suited for treating elderly, children, pregnant women, and others with limited mobility or requirements for special added attention. These two ship types are very expensive to operate and, while very capable, all of those capabilities leave when the ship leaves … as each *must* eventually do.
The National Maritime Response Platforms (NMRPs) are “floating warehouses,” able to move - at will - directly toward the crisis. However, several aspects of the NMRP program set it apart. NMRPs are designed specifically for crisis response. NMRPs are fully crewed, fully loaded, and if not underway already, are able to get underway in 24 hours. Primary missions are not interrupted and personnel are not taken from other requirements.
The NMRPs’ impact does not sail away with the ship. While the NMRPs themselves provide significant support - such as care and feeding for 100+ responders - their real power lies in what they deliver: tens of thousands of tons of supplies and heavy equipment - permanently put ashore, continuing to serve well into the future. When the NMRP departs - as all ships and all responders must - the capabilities remain, permanently ashore continuing to serve well into the future. This makes the NMRP program both unique and enduringly effective.
NMRPs are continuously active - in and out of port, underway, visible, and engaging with the public - not hidden from the public and not just waiting for crises but working year-round with government, nongovernmental, and private partners to link disaster relief with long-term development. By delivering U.S.-manufactured goods to partner nations, NMRPs help to permanently strengthen infrastructure, improve quality of life, build resilience, and create future markets for American products. NMRPs are literally “exporting national security” ensuring strength at home and strength abroad.