During World War 2 the U.S. Navy worked on perfecting Underway replenishment. It was even called our "secret weapon". It provided a way to keep our ships steaming constantly.

But even though we have been practicing for years it is still an evolution fraught with danger. The ship handling of the captains involved has to be perfect. With thousands of tons of ships running within 200 feet of each other for hours the tension can wear a man down. One wrong move can spell disaster, either in an oil spill or a collision.

As the two ships come alongside each other small lines are shot across with shotguns. these lines are tied off to succesively larger lines that are in turn tied to cables that will winch the huge hoses from the replenishment ship to the refueling ports on the recieving ship.

 These hoses will transfer over 1 million gallons of fuel in the hours they are connected to the carrier. In the case of the Coral Sea, most of it is DFM (diese fuel marine) for her 12 huge boilers.

Also being transferred are tons of cargo such as food, supplies, and ammunition.

As supplies are being transferred across cables and hoses there are also helicoptors transferring supplies in an operation called vert-rep(vertical replenishment)

Huge cargo nets are loaded with supplies then trussed up with a long hook which the pilot deftly plucks out of the outstretched arms of a flight deck crewman.

On the recieving deck the crew hurries to move the dropped supplies out of the way for the next load.