European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 31, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Supply ship Altair has copter pa3 on Stern. Cases of food delivered at sea Are sorted aboard the Forrestal front. From Page in service Force. Cmdr Harold Hilmer material officer left Check with capt James l. Hunnicutt thief of staff. World War ii picked up the Navy s High est decoration the Navy Gross for action in the Battle of Surigao Straits \ a student of naval science Robbins runs fits service Force on the axiomatic principle that he who controls the seas has a Good Hance of controlling  to but it s not quite As simple As All that says Robbins. The 6th Fleet operates 3,000 or More Miles away from the  a big Pond called the Mediterranean. The med is 2,000 Miles Long and 500 Miles wide and we have no permanently located bases in this Large operating area. Every thing that we need is brought Over from the . And. Delivered ship to ship. The Leet is and must be fully Mobile ver Satile and always ready. It s our Job wit service Force 6th Fleet to see that the ships have fuel ammunition and All theother things they need and to see to it that they get them on  the idea of keeping a combat ready Leet at sea without fixed Shore bases relatively close is a comparatively new development in naval science. Essentially it developed out of world War ii and korean experience. There Are Many advantages to the system and pos Sibly the most important of these is that we Don t have to use fixed bases whose location would be a dead Giveaway to the a enemy said Robbins the ships assigned to Robbins command while highly efficient in their operations Are hardly the Glamor gals of the Fleet. Robbins and his staff Are aboard the Leet Oiler  missis sinew one of the largest and most modern ships of its Type afloat. At Anchor in Naples Harbor when the lebanese crisis occurred on the nigh of july 13, 1958, the ship got under Way and within six hours she had made a emergency sortie at sea with other units of the 6th Fleet and was headed into the Eastern Mediterranean. In the remaining Days of july and through september. Missis sinew steamed More than 8,000 Miles and refuelled 230ships," said her present co capt Raymond j. Toner when we Are operating continued Toner we work practically around the clock. A 20-hour Day for every officer and Man aboard is not  but said Commodore Robbins mis Sissi Newa does not do it All. The Man who can help you Tell your readers about the problems of supplying the 6th Fleet is capt Smith our staff logistics  capt Franklin i. Smith is a 43-year-oldcalifornian from la Jolla who has had 22 years experience in the highly specialized Navy Supply corps. A graduate of the University of California he later picked up his master s degree at Stanford under Navy auspices. Broad logistics planning for 6th flee operation Sis done by capt Clifford a. Messenheimer 6th Fleet staff logistics officer who sails with adm Ekstrom in his Fleet command ship the  Des  general our service Force staff puts his ideas into effect said Smith. The key to successful operations at seats a process of controlled logistical replenishment. Adm Ekstrom has called the service Force the 6th Fleet s secret weapon. It is a Good name because without fuel food and other essentials the ship obviously could not stay at sea. The Logis tical replenishment log rep system Means in essence that each ship of the Fleet receives All the things it needs according to established 20-Day cycles. In general it works Fine but there is always the human element to contend with. If a ship does not get its requisitions in onetime or if schedules Are changed the workload is increased Smith added. To support the 6th Fleet log rep operation various types of ships Are con stantly at sea to effect transfers of fuel and other necessities. They include in addition to missis sinew two additional huge Fleet oilers one Small Oiler for Point to Point fuel Supply two Fleet gasoline tank ers a general stores Issue ship a provi Sions ship a cargo ship two ammunition ships a Landing ship tanks for hauling freight around the Mediterranean and repair ship capable of effecting repairs that can not readily be performed by the Crew and that do not require the services of a dry Dock. With the exception of the oilers and the repair ship these vessels haul mate rials from East coast ports in the . For Transfer to the operating ships of the Fleet. The hour of Day or night at which trans Fer is made makes no difference an weather makes Little difference said Smith. It is not uncommon he added for three ships to sail abreast while replenishment is carried out and the men work right through until the Job is com  .,./. Orwith an a deftness developed by Lon experience Smith rattledh6ffs0n a statist tics. Did you Khz of he said that in Ori Day the men pithe6th Fleet will consume almost 24,000 pounds of potatoes and use up 35,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables and Wash it Down with 100,000 cups of Coffee or 63,000 glasses of milk although food has a very High priority fuel comes first with the 6th Fleet service Force. We might be Able to tighten our belts a bit for a while if we had to but without Bunker Oil we could not go Tosea and without gasoline and Jet fuel our planes could t Fly. Of course ammunition is right up there on top too added Smith.  part of. The logistics operation the6th Fleet service Force material officer Aiso has a Job on his hands. He is com Mander Harold Hilmer of Hempstead Long Island. Our Job he said is to keep the equipment running. To do that behave both Navy and civilian experts on Call ready to take off at a few minute notice to take care of emergency work of any Type. The men Are dispersed at various areas throughout the Mediterranean so that they can get to wherever they maybe needed in very Short time. We have moved them by plane by helicopter Andy highline they work somewhat like a big City fire department logistics is not a Static thing summarized Robbins. " replenishment at sea started during world War ii with the Transfer of fuel. Then came the Transfer of other items by highline. And we have now started to make helicopter  Long As we keep progressing we will continue to live up to our title of secret weapon " ,.  baggage and Beethoven v t7th army symphony on the Road the Soldier musicians of the famed musical group double As Luggage handlers on Long jaunts Between one night stands concert master George Nagata wrestles a trunk. The orchestra rehearses on fhe stage of Vicenza s famed olympic theater prior to a concert. Soldier musicians prepare to Load instruments and baggage aboard c124 at Start of Italy tour. Moving an 80-Man symphony orchestra fully concert equipped with instruments ranging in size from pitch pipes to Kettle Drums and Bass violins is a transportation problem not covered in the military text books but it s one that has to be met by the justly renowned 7th army symphony orchestra in its travels around the continent. When the big orchestra with its two tons of instruments plus uniforms and personal Luggage is scheduled to make a concert sortie from its Home base in Stuttgart Germany the problems multiply in proportion to the projected mileage and involve intricate Advance planning. On its recent 2,500 mile tour to Northern Italy the full orchestra got an assist from the air Force which provided a giant c124 cargo plane to Airlift the musicians and their equipment from Stuttgart to Vicenza from there on buses carried them Between concert dates in Verona Padua Pisa and Trieste. Altogether about 20,000 persons attended the six performances which were sponsored by setae. By the time the orchestra was ready for the return trip to Stuttgart its members had become seasoned travellers and experts at toting baggage of All shapes and sizes. Pfc George Nagata concert master and violinist frequently appeared As soloist at the evening concerts after a Busy Day of helping Load and unload trunks at each end of Long bus rides. Also pitching in with the heavy work was capt Arthur Shettle the 7th army symphony s co. Civilian musicians might work up a fit of temperament at the idea of acting As their own deliveryman but the men of the 7th s symphony musicians that they Are Are soldiers too and showed they can take it. The stars and stripes an audience of 5,000 attended concert held in Verona s giant outdoor roman theater. May july 31, 1959 the stars and stripes Page 13