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Seal Beach gets visit from a rarely seen warship
October 28th, 2009, 11:39 am · 21 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
COLD WARRIOR: The 564-foot USNS Shasta, which was commissioned in early 1972, is making a rare visit to Seal Beach. The ship, with a crew of about 150 (mostly civilians), is named after California's Mount Shasta.
This will sound odd, but the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station rarely gets visits from ammunition ships. Such vessels often carry so much ordnance they are not permitted inside small harbors that border residential areas. The rule is meant to protect the public in case there is an accident. Seal Beach normally services this kind of ship offshore, using barges to transport weapons out to the vessel. But occasionally, these naval “sealift” command ships aren’t carrying much ordnance and are allowed to visit Seal Beach. And so it is today; the USNS Shasta,which is part of the naval sealift command, has docked in Seal Beach to pick up weapons. The Shasta is one of the older ships on the West Coast, having been commissioned in February 1972. The ship lacks the sleek design — and speed — of the modern Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Shasta can travel only 20 knots or so. Burke destroyers can exceed 30 knots. But appearances can be deceiving; the Shasta is capable of carrying some of the most sophisticated missiles stocked by the Navy, including Tomahawk cruise missiles. The vessel won’t be open for public tours, and it is illegal to navigate near the ship in a boat. But Shasta is visible from Pacific Coast Highway.
By the way, most ships that visit Seal Beach are homeported in San Diego. Shasta doesn’t have a formal homeport for the reason stated above, and because it is in service so much of the time.
Clarification: In the comments section, I said that the Shasta had offensive capabilities. My remark came in response to a reader who said otherwise. Today, I received an email from Gregg Smith, a spokesman for SBNWS. He says, “The ship is capable of carrying missiles such as Tomahawks from point A to B, but is not capable of launching them. Also, the ship used to be armed with the self-defense weapons you described when she was a Navy ship. However, when she was transferred from the Navy to the Military Sealift Command (and became “USNS Shasta” vice “USS”) all her armament was removed.”
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Thanks for letting us know about these things. I went to see the USS Benfold when it was here.
What a cool boat! My favorite part of that wiki listing is that at full load it’s 18,000 tons with 3 steam boilers that drives her to do 20 knots! Not bad for a 37 year old vessel!
interesting.
question. how does all that ordinance get into SBNWS?
By train, through residential orange county or truck by fwy?
Before 9/11, I would not have hesitated to answer this question. Now, I do.
Hmm. Now journalists are shielding information from the public in the name of national security.
Great.
Jonathan: If I had said how the weapons arrive, you’d complain, too.
ever see modern marvels they listed how they transport military weapons, by truck and train traveling unknown to you down freeways and the trains by contracted companies. to partly answer your question bt
We I would imagine that they come in by both truck and rail. If you look at Google Earth and take a look at SBNWS overhead you will notice that outside the storage bunkers there is both road access and rail access. There is actually quite a sophsticated network of rails network throughout SBNWS so that would lead my to suspect that the majority of munitions come by rail.
Greg: The rail lines operate within the confines of the base.
Look at right by the intersection of Perimter Rd and Bolsa Chica Rd. My eyes might be deceiving me but that looks like a rail line going out of the base and it crosses Bolsa Chica Rd.
The Huntington Harbor Christmas boat parade participants ferry the munitions to the navy under cover of holiday cheer.
“Rarely seen warship?” Do they turn off the invisibility shield?
Kevin: Yes, they use a cloaking device.
You guys are funny.
much like the Klingons
Uh, just so you know, if it says “USNS” in its name, it’s not a warship. It has to say “USS” to be a warship. It’s just a support vessel crewed most likely by civilians. It just transports the weapons, it has no way to use them. Check it out on Wikipedia.
The Shasta has defensive weapons, including the Close-In Weapons System, and it can carry two CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, which can be used for assault, as well as moving troops and equipment. The USNS designation stands for U.S. Naval Ship. And while it is primarily crewed by civilians, there are also military personnel on board, and ammunition ships are designed to have some defensive/offensive capability. A ship that delivers a wide range of ordnance to warships is, itself, a warship. Indeed, Shasta supported the war in Iraq.
Aardvarck is correct. The Shasta is just an auxiliary, in this case a munitions supply ship. It’s armament is purely defensive. I don’t think they envision taking the fight to the enemy with a munitions filled cargo ship, no matter what is capable of landing on its deck. Even ocean liners are equipped with defensive weapons when used by the navy to ferry troops.
I know it’s a bit picky to the average person. It’s like the difference between rain and snow, it’s all just precipitation in the records, but there is a difference.
On a side note, I emailed the editor has to why there was no article about the four marines killed two day’s ago in the paper from Camp Pendleton???
Greg: There is a rail line there. But trains no longer leave the base.
I would suppose you are right about that. Ammunition trains routed through populated areas became a liability during the Vietnam War. It would seem unlikely that the military would continue to run the public relations risks of accidents or demonstrations. There must be a daycare somewhere near RR tracks in those communities.
Of course, I could be wrong.