Posted: May 29, 2019

Captain Robert Mills honored as USNS Gianella completes final underway mission


Captain Robert Mills is greeted by Commander of Military Sealift Command Rear Adm. Dee Mewbourne after receiving the American Maritime Officers Master Mariner of the Year Award during an observance of National Maritime Day in Norfolk, Va. on May 23. With them is AMO East Coast Representative Todd Christensen.

Captain Robert Mills received the AMO Master Mariner of the Year Award in Norfolk, Va. on May 23. Congratulating him were members of the crew of the USNS Lawrence H. Gianella, the tanker on which Mills has sailed as master for the past 20 years.

The crew of the USNS Lawrence H. Gianella on the tanker's final underway mission in May included Captain Robert Mills III, Chief Mate Robert Groves, Second Mate Tian Chi, Third Mates Dillon Davidson and Jeffrey Harcq, Chief Engineer Daniel Lee, First Assistant Engineer Jonathan Miller, Second A.E. Charlie Umali, Bosun Nicholas Hoffman, ABs Owen Hammond, Lionel Hall, Lloyd Labeach, Matthew Furlong and Adam Ropp, Pumpman Richard Lawson, QMEDs Bernard Smalls and Samuel Sanders, Jr., DEUs Eric Jackson and Shawn Smith, Steward Michael Sanders, Jr., Chief Cook Linda McPhetridge, and GSUs Rhonda Williams and Brandon Bob.

The following is excerpted from an article published by Naval Today, which is available online.

The US Military Sealift Command's last champion class T-5 petroleum tanker, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella (T-AOT 1125), completed its final underway mission for the US Navy on May 23.

Christened on April 19, 1986, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella's primary role has been to perform point-to-point delivery of petroleum products to Department of Defense storage and distribution facilities worldwide.

"USNS Lawrence H. Gianella is the last and longest serving US government owned champion class T-5 Tanker," said Matthew Sweeney, Military Sealift Command Tanker Project Officer. "As the longest serving T-5 Tanker she moved more petroleum for the US military than any other vessel in US military history."

"USNS Lawrence H. Gianella was the last of five T-5 tankers built," said Capt. Robert J. Mills III, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella's ship master since 1998. "The Gianella is a liaison between commercial petroleum terminals and Department of Defense fuel facilities around the world."

Over the course of USNS Lawrence H. Gianella's service, the ship has provided direct support to the warfighters in multiple wars.

"During the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella supported US fleet and convoy operations in the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf by providing fuel consolidation (CONSOL) support to MSC fleet oilers," according to Sweeney. "The ship also provided CONSOL and petroleum logistics support for Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom."

As an ice class oil tanker, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella has performed numerous Arctic and Antarctic resupply missions since the mid-1980s.

"USNS Lawrence H. Gianella is fitted with reinforced framing on the hull, which allowed us to sail through icy waters to support the annual resupply missions Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica and Operation Pacer Goose at Thule Air Base, Greenland, in the Arctic," said Mills. "We have supported a total of 11 of these missions."

USNS Lawrence H. Gianella is owned by MSC and crewed by civilian mariners from Ocean Ships Inc., whose duties include running the deck department, engine department and steward's department.

"We, the crew of USNS Lawrence H. Gianella feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve aboard this ship," Mills concluded. "Serving aboard this ship has been very much like serving with family."

Upon deactivation, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella will be placed in lay-up in coastal Texas.