US Navy Oiler Runs Aground Off Oman Coast, Carrier Strike Group Forced To Scramble For Fuel

Just a note to the Dems who are ready to start WWIII. The Abraham Lincoln carrier group looks good on paper but the Navy needs a fueling ship, and apparently the USN Big Horn is out of commission. Houston we have a problem.

We just gave Zelensky more of our bucks while we don’t take care of business here and maintain our stuff. Well done Democrats.

The US Navy oiler USNS Big Horn ran aground and partially flooded off the coast of Oman, leaving the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group without its primary fuel source.

First reported on the gCaptain forum and by maritime historian Sal Mercogliano, a leaked video and photos show damage to the ship’s rudder post and water flooding into a mechanical space.

The Broader Navy Tanker Crisis and Strategic Implications

The grounding of USNS Big Horn is a stark reminder of the broader tanker crisis facing the U.S. military, as highlighted by Captain Steve Carmel, a former vice president at Maersk, in an editorial for gCaptain last year. The Department of Defense is projected to need more than one hundred tankers of various sizes in the event of a serious conflict in the Pacific. However, current estimates indicate that the DoD has assured access to fewer than ten, a dangerously low number that threatens to cripple U.S. military operations. Without sufficient tanker capacity, even the most advanced naval capabilities—including nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, which still rely on aviation fuel—will be rendered ineffective.

This problem became significantly more accute with the closing of the Navy’s massive Pacific fuel depot – Red Hill – after poor maintence resulted in fuel leaking into the local water supply, poisoning thousands including children, in Hawaii.

The shortage of both oilers and tankers demands urgent action. The United States must build a larger U.S.-flagged fleet capable of replenishing aircraft carriers and support joint wartime operations. Expanding the Tanker Security Program, enforcing cargo preference, and prepositioning fuel-laden tankers are potential solutions, but they require immediate implementation. With the looming threat of conflict in the Pacific, securing a robust tanker fleet is not just a logistical necessity—it’s a strategic imperative.

This crisis—coupled with the equally troubling US Merchant Marine crewing crisis—poses a significant challenge for the US Navy. Encouragingly, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has called for a bold new Maritime Statecraft. Moreover, with the leadershipof RepresentativeMichael Waltz and Senator Mark Kelly, Congress is working on a bill to address our maritime dilemmas—a bill this incident makes more compelling than ever. However, major obstacles remain. These solutions take time, and other federal agencies—including the US Coast Guard but most notably the US Maritime Administration under Secretary Pete Buttigieg—are under-resourced and lack motivation to do the heavy lifting required to solve these problems.

Read more Zero Hedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/us-navy-oiler-runs-aground-forcing-carrier-strike-group-scramble-fuel