By Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is sending an expedition of beach cargo handling forces to assist in the establishment of a floating causeway and pier to handle delivery of relief supplies to Gaza.
Speaking on background, a Navy official told reporters on March 20 that Beach Group One, augmented by other logistics forces, would be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to deliver and assemble lighterage of the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) system to convey supplies to the Trident pier and causeway Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) pier that will be assembled by the Army’s Transportation Corps.
Beach Group One, based in San Diego, is a command that provides beachmasters and LCAC air cushion landing craft to amphibious warfare ships, as well as a JLOTS.
The JLOTS equipment — positioned in Jacksonville, Florida — will be transported to the Mediterranean on three sealift ships — 2nd USNS LT John P. Bobo, USNS1st LT Baldomero Lopez, and Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Force ship Roy P. Benevidez — with the latter transporting Army equipment. The ships will deploy nonstop straight to operations area and remain on station off Gaza to provide berthing and support for the Sailors and Soldiers involved in the relief operation. The Beach Group One personnel will be flown to the Mediterranean to join their equipment.
The official said the Navy would be sending 260 personnel to the operation, including augmentees from Beach Group Two and Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One. The personnel would include boatswain’s mates, Seabees, hospital corpsmen, quartermasters, and operations specialists, as well as other ratings.
The beach group will assemble a Roll-On/Roll Off Discharge Facility (RRDF), a 72-foot-by-270-foot floating platform built from nine sections that join together. The official said the RRDF takes four-to-five days to assemble. The RRDF, positioned three miles from the beach, will be moored alongside ships to accept their cargo containers, offloaded onto the RRDF by cranes. The containers are then loaded onto lighterage that are moved by tugboats to the Army Trident pier, which is attached to a causeway that leads to the shore. The containers are then trucked ashore by the tractor-trailers.
The sealift ships and the JLOTS will be supported by medium landing craft, repair craft, and small boats.
The JLOTS was last used in Exercise Talisman Saber in July 2023. The official said that the JLOTS is assembled regularly for training and proficiency, usually once or twice per year.
The official confirmed that no U.S. military personnel will be operating ashore in Gaza. Contract personnel will be used to drive the tractor-trailers onto the pier to receive the cargo.
The duration of the operation is yet to be determined. The official said the beach group would be meeting whatever was required by its operational commander. He said the command-and-control structure in the theater was still being worked out.
