Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Amelia Earhart paused its maiden MSC mission to pay respect to the ship's namesake at the site where the famed aviator disappeared July 2, 1937. As the sun began to set over Howland Island in the Central Pacific Ocean, the ship's crew took a quiet moment to hold a wreath laying ceremony in the area where Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan are believed to have perished during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. "Despite all of her accomplishments, Amelia Earhart was known as a very private person," said Capt.