January 1, Navy Faces Critical Shortage of Merchant Marines, Threatening National Security

The U.S. Navy is facing a severe shortage of Merchant Marines, forcing officials to consider taking 17 vessels out of regular operation. The Merchant Marine workforce, comprised of civilian mariners managed jointly by the federal government and the private sector, has been hollowed out to the point that it can no longer adequately crew ships across the fleet.

According to Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “The problem, of course, is the ships are at sea, away from home port 12 months of the year.”

Though Merchant Marines are not officially part of the U.S. military, they play a critical role by operating commercial ships and serving as an auxiliary force during wartime or national emergencies, as noted by the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration.

Montgomery emphasized the dire situation: “We’re desperately short of the number of people,” he said. “There’s a lack of experienced merchant mariners to crew the ships, and this is really a clear danger to national security.”

In response to this crisis, the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) announced plans to place 17 ships into “extended maintenance,” according to the U.S. Naval Institute. These ships include “two Lewis and Clark replenishment ships, one fleet oiler, a dozen Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPF), and two forward-deployed Navy expeditionary sea bases.” The crews of these vessels will be redistributed to other ships to ensure they remain operational.

Montgomery further clarified that this issue predominantly impacts Merchant Marines rather than military sailors. “The sailors tend to man our warships… the merchant mariners man something that’s equally important, which is the logistics backbone of the Navy — oilers, ammo ships, transport ships that move the Army and Marine Corps across the water,” Montgomery noted.

He also pointed out the importance of maritime logistics: “Just like 90 percent of trade is done by ships and not aircraft, the same thing applies at sea: It’s too difficult, too expensive — it’s not sufficient to move all that stuff by aircraft, so it’s moved by ships.”

This alarming shortage highlights the vulnerability of our nation’s maritime capabilities and underscores the urgency for a robust solution to fortify this essential component of our national security infrastructure.

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