Steve Harding News

The logistics support vessel Major General Robert Smalls (LSV-8) - the first Army vessel named for an African American - was inducted into the Army's watercraft fleet yesterday during a commissioning ceremony at Baltimore's historic Inner Harbor. The 314-ft. long, 5,412-ton vessel officially joined the Army Reserve's 203rd Transportation Detachment as more than 300 guests looked on. Smalls is the second of two improved LSVs based on the six earlier Gen. Frank S. Besson-class vessels. Her sistership, Staff Sgt. Robert T. Kuroda, LSV-7, joined the Reserve's Honolulu-based 548th Trans. Det.

Paperwork is, and always has been a necessary and essential aspect of ship operation. Indeed, the Barcelona Maritime Code of 1258 required ships carry clerks specifically for this purpose releasing the master to concentrate on his primary duty, safely navigating the vessel. Unfortunately, such is the way of things few ships now carry clerks. Indeed, notwithstanding a mushrooming in documentation shipping is required to carry and use in recent years, notably at the behest of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the number of crew available to manage the workload continues to reduce, the burden increasingly falling on the bridge watchkeepers. To what extent this has an impact on safety is moot.