USNS Gianella Completes Final Underway Mission

NORFOLK,
Va. — Military Sealift Command’s last champion class T-5 petroleum tanker, USNS
Lawrence H. Gianella (T-AOT 1125), completed its final underway mission for the
U.S. Navy by sailing down the Elisabeth River to downtown Norfolk, Virginia, in
support of National Maritime Day on May 23.

Christened
April 19, 1986, Gianella’s primary role has been to perform point-to-point
delivery of petroleum products to Department of Defense storage and
distribution facilities worldwide.

“USNS
Lawrence H. Gianella is the last and longest serving U.S. government-owned
champion class T-5 tanker,” said Matthew Sweeney, Military Sealift Command
tanker project officer. “As the longest serving T-5 tanker she moved more
petroleum for the U.S. military than any other vessel in U.S. military
history.”

Gianella “was
the last of five T-5 tankers built,” said Capt. Robert J. Mills III, USNS
Lawrence H. Gianella’s ship master since 1998. “The Gianella is a liaison
between commercial petroleum terminals and Department of Defense fuel
facilities around the world.”

The other
T-5 tankers in the U.S. Navy’s inventory were the MV Gus. W. Darnell
(ATO-1121), USNS Paul Buck (T-AOT 1122), USNS Richard G. Matthiesen (T-AOT
1124) and the USNS Samuel L. Cobb (T-AOT 1123).

“Military
Sealift Command operated its T-5 tankers in each of its five area commands, MSC
Atlantic, MSC Pacific, MCS Central, MSC Far East and MSC Europe and Africa,” Mills
added.

USNS Gianella
is the last noncombat logistics force petroleum tanker in MSC service capable
of providing underway replenishment-at-sea services with combatants using the
modular fuel distribution system (MFDS), according to Sweeney.

“Fuel is
the lifeblood of the U.S. Navy’s combatant fleet,” Mills said. “USNS Lawrence
H. Gianella is able to restock MSC’s fleet oilers and Navy combatant ships
while at sea using its two refueling stations. We would pull into port and
bring fuel to our fleet oilers so that they could remain at sea.”

Over the
course of USNS Lawrence H. Gianella’s service, the ship has provided direct
support to the warfighters in multiple wars.

“During
the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, USNS Gianella supported U.S. fleet and convoy
operations in the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf by providing fuel consolidation
(CONSOL) support to MSC fleet oilers,” Sweeney said. “The ship also provided
CONSOL and petroleum logistics support for Operation Desert Shield, Operation
Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.”

As an ice-class
oil tanker USNS Lawrence H. Gianella has performed numerous Arctic and
Antarctic resupply missions since the mid-1980s.