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CHAPTER 2
NAVY SUPPLY SYSTEM
As a Ship’s Serviceman, you have been
involved with the daily operation of the retail and
service activities of an afloat supply department.
You have performed duties as a laundryman,
barber, tailor, ship’s store operator, bulk
storeroom custodian, or records keeper. Now, as
you prepare to advance to a senior petty officer
rate and assume the added responsibilities of a
supervisory position, you must be able to
identify your role in the supply department afloat
and ashore as an integral part of the Navy supply
system.
The varied supply demands of a missile ship
in the South Pacific; a Navy radio station in
Cutler, Maine; the naval base in Guantanamo,
Cuba; and the other worldwide elements of the
operating forces and shore establishments of the
Navy require a procurement, storage, and
distribution system with a scope unequaled in the
commercial world. The term supply system is
used to describe collectively the field activities of
the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP)
and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) which
procure, hold, and issue materials to the operating
forces or to activities of the shore establishment.
The supply system also extends into the operating
forces in the form of stores issue ships and
tenders.
The mission of the integrated Navy/DLA
supply system is twofold. First and always
foremost, the supply system must provide respon-
sive support to the operating forces. Second, the
system must achieve optimum economy. To
accomplish both of these goals, the Navy/DLA
supply system must obtain superior management
in all of its operations. In your role as a senior
Ship’s Serviceman, you must provide the type of
management that will contribute directly to the
success of the mission and the goals of the
integrated Navy/DLA supply system.
The Navy/DLA supply system became “in-
tegrated” when the critically important supply
requirements of the operating forces began to
extend beyond the scope of a single organization.
In fact, the supply system has become integrated
in two significant ways. First of all, the Navy
supply system itself is integrated. Before World
War II, technical materials were controlled by the
technical commands and were generally provided
to the fleet on a direct turnover basis from
private industry. The enormous quantity of
technical materials that the highly mobile naval
forces required soon surpassed the ability of that
system to meet the demands. As a result, these
technical items had to be integrated into a supply
system where they could be managed systemwide.
Second, the supply system is an integration of the
DLA system and the Navy system. The integra-
tion of the two systems began when the DLA
started placing selected items of material in
various naval supply centers, depots, shipyards,
and air stations. The following sections of this
chapter will describe how the general organiza-
tion and functions of the DLA system and the
Navy system work together.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
The Defense Logistics Agency was established
to procure and manage certain common items
for all the military services. First, each service
determines its own gross requirements. Next, the
DLA totals the requirements for all the military
services and procures the required materials on
a wholesale basis from commercial sources.
Finally, the DLA sells the procured materials to
the military services.
DEFENSE SUPPLY CENTERS
The DLA headquarters is located at Cameron
Station, Alexandria, Virginia. The headquarters
organization provides leadership and manage-
ment over the operational functions that are
decentralized to the DLA field activities. The field
activities, which are referred to as defense supply
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