The two Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) are designed and constructed to include an engineering storeroom to keep on hand some low-cost, frequently needed items.
“Over time, these engineering storerooms accumulate additional parts and supplies, and it can be difficult for the ships to maintain an accurate inventory, or database, for accountability and efficient use,” said Cmdr. Jonah Petrinovic, LST Deputy Director at the FLC Jacksonville site on Naval Station Mayport, Florida.
The team worked with the Sailors of the two warships by removing and inventorying all the items from the engineering storeroom and marking the locations of the items in the storeroom for re-stow back onboard.
After the items were inventoried, there was an analysis to determine if any of the items logged can be used to fill any of the ship’s outstanding item requests. The hundreds of items were also added to a system called Relational Supply, which is the electronic database where Navy ships can log and track their inventories. This process allows the team to view and generate the ship’s inventory reports, review losses and gains by inventory, and conduct causative research.
In total, the team identified and inventoried 604 items valued at more than $1 million for USS St. Louis and 699 items valued at approximately $1.35 million for USS Wichita.
With reorganized storerooms and accurate inventories, these ships can now more fully utilize the material they have in their engineering storerooms, which improves shipboard operational readiness and saves taxpayer dollars.
