Sailors assigned to Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One (NCHB-1) conduct cargo handling operations off the Military Sealift Command ice strengthen container ship MV American Tern (T-AK 4729) for the annual resupply mission for Operation Deep Freeze at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Feb. 4-12. For more than 50 years the National Science Foundation has relied on the highly skilled Navy Cargo Handlers to ensure safe delivery of life-sustaining cargo for its research scientists and residents at McMurdo Station. Around the clock, in two 12-hours shifts, the Sailors off-load and load a cargo ship in Antarctica during the summer month of February, which provides continuous sunlight on the continent. (U.S. Navy photo by Cmdr. Vincent Clifton)By Lt. Penny Cockerell, Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group Public Affairs
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (NNS) -- Nearly 60 Sailors from the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG) active-duty battalion Navy Cargo Handling Battalion (NCHB) 1, left Williamsburg, Jan. 18, for a peacetime mission.
The Navy cargo handlers will arrive in Antarctica in a few days to deliver a one-year supply of food, equipment and medicine for researchers living year-round on the coldest and windiest continent in the world.
NCHB 1 is the only Navy detachment supporting the National Science Foundation research at the South Pole. Their supplies will support U.S. polar scientists who have discovered Martian meteors and dinosaur bones buried in the glaciers, among other finds.
Despite working 12-hour shifts in the harshest conditions, Sailors compete for the chance to go.
"I've gotten to do a lot of traveling and Antarctica is certainly something not many Oklahomans get to see," said Boatswain's Mate 1st Class (SW) Angela Kerr.
The Navy has supported expeditions to Antarctica for more than a half century. Their specialized training and equipment continue to make them well-suited for the job.
Each year, a tanker and a container ship from the Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) make the difficult journey through icy waters to McMurdo. These ships carry 100 percent of the fuel and more than 70 percent of the supplies and scientific equipment that the station needs to operate. MSC has participated in Operation Deep Freeze every year since McMurdo was established in 1955.
"We can get the cargo there, but without the cargo handling battalion, it wouldn't get offloaded," said Rick Appling from MSC's Sealift Logistics Command Pacific. "Those Sailors are an absolutely critical node in the operation."
Offloading these life-sustaining supplies to McMurdo Station is critical – and there is only a small window of time during Antarctica's round-the-clock sunlight to accomplish the mission. If it doesn't get done, the entire Antarctica mission would be forced to shut down.
The United States established its largest permanent antarctic base at McMurdo Station, which is a collection of metal huts that are dug into the volcanic rock, accessible by sea only during a brief summer period.
"Every cargo handler desires and dreams of making this mission, so we pick the best and the brightest," said Lt. Cmdr. Paul Melvey, executive officer for NCHB 1. "We're honored to have had this opportunity for more than 50 years to support scientific research that ultimately affects everyone on the earth."
The Navy cargo handlers will arrive at Ross Island, Antarctica, on or about Jan. 29 and make port at McMurdo Station, the southern-most navigable harbor in the world.
Once there, Navy cargo handlers will meet MSC dry cargo ship, MV American Tern (T-AK 4729), to offload 20 million pounds of fresh supplies to support the scientists and researchers living year-round in the brutal environment. Cargo handlers will work around the clock for seven to 10 days in the continuous sunlight of the Antarctic summer.
The highly-trained group combats fatigue, crushing workloads and summertime temperatures that can plunge, in a blowing storm, to 50 degrees below zero.
Once the fresh supplies are offloaded, the previous year's trash is hauled aboard the ships. By international agreement, researchers must save and export all waste to preserve the pristine polar environment.
The return shipment includes ice core samples that will provide scientists studying global climate change with information about the composition of the atmosphere hundreds of thousands of years ago.
