Sealift - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sealift is a term used predominantly in military logistics

Military logistics

Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:...

and refers to the use of cargo ship

Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

s for the deployment

Military deployment

Military deployment is the movement of armed forces and their logistical support infrastructure around the world.-United States:The United States Military defines the term as follows:...

of military assets, such as weaponry, vehicles, military personnel, and supplies. It complements other means of transport, such as strategic airlifters, in order to enhance a state

Sovereign state

A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...

's ability to project power

Power projection

Power projection is a term used in military and political science to refer to the capacity of a state to conduct expeditionary warfare, i.e. to intimidate other nations and implement policy by means of force, or the threat thereof, in an area distant from its own territory.This ability is a...

.

Sealift shipping falls into three broad categories: dry cargo freighters

Cargo ship

, liquid tankers

Tanker (ship)

A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...

, and passenger

Passenger ship

A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...

or troop ships. During joint operations, dry cargo ships may transport equipment and supplies required to conduct and sustain the operation; tankers carry fuel; while passenger and troop ships carry personnel to the theater

Theater (warfare)

In warfare, a theater, is defined as an area or place within which important military events occur or are progressing. The entirety of the air, land, and sea area that is or that may potentially become involved in war operations....

and allow the evacuation of noncombatants or those in need of medical aid

MEDEVAC

Medical evacuation, often termed Medevac or Medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to the wounded being evacuated from the battlefield or to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of an accident to receiving medical facilities using...

.

Sealift can also be divided into strategic and tactical

Tactical

-Personnel:Musicians*Deron Miller – vocals, guitar*Tim Yeung – drums*Luke Jaeger – lead guitar*Risha Eryavac - bass*James Murphy – guitar solos & bass on "Wake Up Dead"-Release details:...

sealift. Strategic sealift is the transportation of vehicles and equipment to a staging area equipped with port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

facilities, with personnel arriving by other methods. Tactical sealift occurs when a ship is carrying personnel along with vehicles and equipment, and is able to deploy them directly and operationally, like in an amphibious assault.

While ships are slower than their airborne counterparts and may require port facilities to unload their cargo, their larger capacity allows them to transport heavy armoured forces or bulky supplies that only the largest strategic airlifters (such as the C-5 Galaxy

C-5 Galaxy

The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It provides the United States Air Force with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize cargos, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many...

) could normally handle, and in much greater quantities.

A state's sealift capabilities may include civilian-operated ships that normally operate by contract, but which can be chartered or commandeered during times of military necessity to supplement government-owned naval fleets. Some smaller navies have built multi-role vessels that combine sealift with other capabilities, such as those of a patrol frigate or a command-and-control vessel. The Royal Danish Navy

Royal Danish Navy

The Royal Danish Navy is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese territorial waters...

's and the Royal New Zealand Navy

Royal New Zealand Navy

The Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...

's multi-role vessel being two examples.

Civilian use

Sealift refers to the re-supply of isolated communities with fuel, building materials, foodstuffs, vehicles and other goods. This is the most common method used for the coastal communities of northern Canada

Northern Canada

Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...

due to the lower cost and the larger capacity of ships and barges over aircraft. An annual occurrence in the Arctic, the sealift is usually performed between July and October, when the sea is ice free.

Typically two types of ships are used, the older, less-seen cargo ship and the more usual tugboat

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

. While both types also haul barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

s, the cargo ship also carries cargo on deck. Most Arctic communities do not have a port and cranes

Crane (machine)

A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...

to unload the supplies but may have a simple dock. Where the community does not have a dock, the ship either must ground itself or the barges. Supplies are then removed by forklift truck

Forklift truck

A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials. The modern forklift was developed in the 1920s by various companies including the transmission manufacturing company Clark and the hoist company Yale & Towne Manufacturing...

which is also carried on board. The interior of the barges are used to carry fuel and other supplies are carried in containers

Containerization

Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

on deck.

Civilian use

See also