February 27, 2026: United States Navy operations at sea are limited by the availability of fuel supplies. Petroleum-based fuels are volatile compounds that cannot be stored for more than six months. After that these fuels rapidly lose effectiveness and are worthless after a year. Naval operations depend on continuous supplies of fuel. A few navies have reduced this problem with nuclear powered aircraft carriers. At the time these carriers were first being built it was felt that smaller ships could also benefit from nuclear power. It was soon discovered that this was not possible because the high cost of replacing diesel and fuel oil engines with nuclear ones was too expensive.

Nuclear powered aircraft carriers have tens of thousands of liters of JP5 aviation fuel for the fixed wing and helicopters on board. This is highly flammable fuel that is easily ignited to create fast moving fires. All warship crews, and especially those aboard aircraft carriers, carry out damage control exercises that involve containing and extinguishing JP5 fires. The U.S. Navy has suffered about twenty of these JP5 fires. Most have occurred while aircraft were being fueled or because fueling equipment malfunctioned.

There is another fuel problem, getting it where it is needed in a timely fashion. The American Navy is the most powerful in the world and has been that way for eighty years. That primacy is now threatened by the American inability to maintain an adequate number of supply and support ships for the fleet at sea. This is particularly in the Pacific, where the U.S. Fleet prevailed because it built and maintained hundreds of ships to carry supplies, including fuel, to keep ground, and air naval force operational. In the final year of the 1941-45 Pacific War the USN had a thousand warships, 2,000 amphibious ships and over 4,000 cargo and fuel ships travelling between the United States and the combat zone to keep the naval war going. Currently there are not enough fuel resupply ships to supply major wartime operations in the Western Pacific.

While building more oilers, as naval tankers are called, is the primary solution, there are temporary fixes available. This was seen in action eleven years ago when Canada was forced to use commercial shipping companies to obtain two supply ships for refueling and transferring other needed items to Canadian warships at sea. Using commercial ships for this is nothing new. Before the development of specialized naval supply ships in the early 20th century the job had long been done by civilian ships. But the widespread use of oil as ship fuel in the early 2oth century made it possible, with some special equipment and trained operators, to refuel warships at sea while both ships were moving. Same deal with transferring other supplies like food, spare parts and so on. These techniques enabled the warships to keep moving, often essential in a combat zone or on your way to one. However the need for special equipment and trained personnel meant it was easier for the navy to build, crew and operate these ships.

But like aerial refueling, a growing number of nations have found it less expensive and just as effective to use civilian contractors who buy surplus aerial tankers or convert large cargo transports to the task. The military is regularly outsourcing flight training and all sorts of technical support services. So it was no big leap to do this for warship resupply at sea.

The main reason Canada went this route was because of political and bureaucratic delays in building two new naval resupply ships to replace the two that had been in service for nearly 50 years had to be retired in 2015. The commercial ships will use largely navy crews so that these sailors will maintain their skills for when the newly built naval resupply ships are ready for service in five or six years. In the meantime the Canadians have relied on allies to temporarily provide supply ships until the interim civilian ships are ready to go.