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USNS Yukon hosts reunion at sea

MSC PAO 03-20
May 7, 2003
For more information, contact:
Marge Holtz or B.J. Talley
(202)685-5055

While operating in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in late April, Military Sealift Command fleet oiler USNS Yukon took delivery of a somewhat unusual piece of cargo.

In addition to the usual logistics support, the oiler provided an impromptu underway family reunion for an MSC civil-service mariner and his daughter, a Sailor aboard amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.

Amidst the high operational tempo that normally accompanies evolutions in the Persian Gulf area of operations, Capt. M.J. Wilson, master of USNS Yukon, and Capt. T.D. Crowley, USN, commanding officer of USS Boxer, coordinated an onboard visit of several hours for the Sailor, Machinist's Mate Third Class April Matthews, and her father, Assistant Storekeeper Wade Matthews, who serves aboard Yukon.

The younger Matthews was flown over to USNS Yukon via helicopter from USS Boxer prior to a scheduled underway replenishment between the two ships. As the helicopter touched down on Yukon's flight deck, Wade Matthews welcomed his daughter, whom he had not seen since Christmas of last year, aboard and escorted her on a tour of his ship.

Later, Capt. Wilson presented April Matthews with a USNS Yukon ball cap on the port bridge wing, as her ship, USS Boxer, refueled alongside. The father and daughter reunion also included a tour of some of Yukon's workspaces, the bridge, the engine room and the galley. After the tour, Petty Officer Matthews and her father enjoyed dinner together, provided by Yukon's steward department, before she was transferred back to Boxer.

USNS Yukon is one of 14 fleet oilers operated by the Navy's Military Sealift Command, the ocean transportation provider for the Department of Defense.

MSC normally operates about 120 civilian-crewed, noncombatant active ships for a variety of missions around the world. That number expanded to about 210 as additional ships were activated from reduced operating status or chartered for the command's support of U.S. forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

MSC ship missions vary from underway replenishment and other fleet support like that provided by Yukon, to the transport and afloat prepositioning of defense cargo, to at-sea data collection for the U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies.