There must be evidence of them pulling missiles of ships coming in from finished tours and transferring them to outgoing ships?
And not only SM-3 and 6 but also SM-2 (which I thought they had plenty of).
And there is, not specifically for any specific munition, but in general for - well basically all munitions they use. The term they use is "cross-decking" which is a practice they introduced to transfer munitions that are currently certified for use for a long enough period of time, these do not go back to the depot or stay on a ship that comes into port, but are cross-decked immediately to another ship which needs them for a deployment.
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2023 BUDGET ESTIMATES
JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATES APRIL 2022
Page 312 / 664
There will be a significant increase in the number of cross-decking for deployed systems, as well as
associated Integrated Logistics Support (ILS). Additional ILS includes Diminishing Manufacturing Source and Material
Shortages (DMSMS)
I just love these names. "Diminishing Manufacturing Source and Material Shortages (DMSMS)" sounds much better than "we're low on missiles"
There is no "smoking gun" yet for SM's specifically, but the USMC had a training manual mentioning cross-decking in a munitions context:
MCTP 13-10B Combat Cargo Operations
Page 31 / 167
It may become necessary to cross-deck munitions during turnover with incoming ARG/MEU units.
I found plenty more supporting documents that show that the USN has the legal framework, standing orders, training manuals and an inventory system aligned with this practice enabling them to shuffle ammo from ship to ship as needed.
THE NAVAL ORDNANCE MANAGEMENT POLICY (NOMP) MANUAL
12.1.2.2 Supply Source Levels. To facilitate maximum inventory support for approved forces, the
customer has three levels of supply source to draw from. The first level is from their own shipfill, mission
load, or service ammunition allowance that has been tailored to their mission. This supply is carried with
them to draw from, wherever they deploy. The second level of supply source is retail-resupply stocks
from cargo loads aboard CLF ships and some overseas secondary stocking points, or by cross-decking
from other combatants. This supply is available to the customer through UNREP or overseas port visit.
The third level of supply source is from the CONUS primary and secondary stocking points. This supply
is available to the customer primarily pier side or at anchorage and can be from either retail stocks or
wholesale stocks, which have been transferred from inland wholesale storage to the retail stock point for
transfer to the customer. These CONUS primary and secondary stocking points support the Fleet by
filling the shipfills and mission loads for combatant ships initially and “topping them off” as required, at
pier side or by lighterage.
1.3.3 Crossdecking Requirements. Upon completion of the deployment, ALMs that meet the following
requirements may be transferred (cross-decked) to the relieving ship:
a. Containerized ALMs that have been deep stowed and have sufficient time before MDD
expiration for the receiving ship to complete its deployment.
b. Ready service missiles that have sufficient MDD time remaining may be crossdecked. The MDD
may be extended to meet an operational commitment by requesting an M/E/N extension as identified in
Volume I, Chapter 12.4.
c. AMRAAM, HARM/AARGM, HARPOON, HELLFIRE, JSOW, MAVERICK, SIDEWINDER,
SLAM-ER, and SEA SPARROW missiles may be crossdecked unless they fail a BIT, fail an on-aircraft
test, experience visible damage, or will reach MDD before the completion of the next deployment. The
MDD may be extended to meet an operational commitment by requesting an M/E/N extension as
identified in Volume I, Chapter 12.4 of this manual.
d. Captive flown missiles may be crossdecked unless they fail a required BIT, experience visible
damage, or will reach MDD before the completion of the next deployment.
e. Ammo Accounting Division (Afloat: Shipboard Weapons Department, Ashore: NMC Activities,
Navy Weapons Departments, and MCASs (Station Weapons)) with ACES access will total the captive
carried time on serialized missile T/M/S and print a copy of the remaining automated captive carry time
to date. This is done as required, but at least upon transfer of custody, print the logbook reports and enter
a copy into missile logbooks. Ammo accounting division personnel can then delete the crossdecked
serialized T/M/S accumulated captive carry time from the ACES database.
This is bypassing the maintenance depots, which, before this practice, apparently served as central hubs for ammo.
They now need to be bypassed to ensure their ships have sufficient ammo, cross-decking directly from ship-to-ship.
Wow.
That whole TRAM thing of reloading VLS at sea? That's not to fire multiple missiles from a VLS tube. That's to shuffle ammo between ships cause they don't have enough. Instead of going back to a port, they want to pass off missiles at sea.
This is the only context in which that makes sense, since they don't even have enough missiles to fill all Burkes and Ticos up at once, so a reload of a Burke can only come from another Burke or Tico.
Sorry for obsessing so much about SM stockpiles, I hope this isn't too off topic, I somehow had the urge to figure this out.
