Quote:
Originally Posted by Platapus
Yet another of my dumb questions...
With the sinking of the USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg (T-AGM-10), the following question came up:
What is the difference between a United States Ship (USS) and a United States Navy Ship (USNS).
I thought all big floaty things belonged to the Navy?  |
A vessel designated with the prefix USS (United States Ship) is owned and operated by the United States Navy and manned with USN sailors. A vessel that carries the tag USNS (United States Naval Ship) is owned by the Department of the Navy, but is operated by the Military Sealift Command and is manned by civilian mariners. Currently, the MSC operates all naval auxiliary vessels such as salvage ships, ammunition ships, combat stores ships, hospital ships, fleet oilers, and fleet ocean tugs, among others. This leaves the USN to operate only combatant ships.