Context: Replenishment at sea (RAS) (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation/Commonwealth of Nations) or Underway replenishment (UNREP) (US Navy) is a method of transferring fuel, munitions, and stores from one ship to another while under way., The United States Maritime Service (USMS) was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. The mission of the organization is to train people to become officers and crewmembers on merchant ships that form the United States Merchant Marine per Title 46 U.S. Code 51701. Heavily utilized during World War II, the USMS has since been largely dissolved and/or absorbed into other federal departments, but its commissioned officers continue to function as administrators and instructors at the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the several maritime academies., The Commonwealth of Nations (formerly the British Commonwealth), also known as simply The Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that were mostly territories of the former British Empire. The Commonwealth operates by intergovernmental consensus of the member states, organised through the Commonwealth Secretariat and non-governmental organisations, organised through the Commonwealth Foundation., The Cimarron class oilers were an underway replenishment class of oil tankers which were first built in 1939 as `` National Defense Tankers , '' United States Maritime Commission Type T3 - S2 - A1 , designed `` to conform to the approved characteristics for naval auxiliaries in speed , radius and structural strength '' , anticipating their militarization in the event of war . `` Tentative plans had been reached with the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey to build ten high - speed tankers with the government paying the cost of the larger engines needed for increased speed . By the first week in December ( 1937 ) , Standard Oil had solicited and received bids from a number of yards providing for the construction of a number of 16,300 - ton ( deadweight ) capacity tankers . Bids were requested for two versions : a single - screw design of 13 knots and a twin - screw design of 18 knots . The price difference between the two would be used to establish the government 's cost subsidy for greater speed . Plans and specifications for both designs were prepared for Standard Oil by naval architect E. L. Stewart . It seems certain that the design for the 18 - knot tanker ( Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey Design No. 652 NDF ) evolved out of the bureau 's ( C&R ) design for a fleet oiler . '' Three of the original twelve ships were commissioned directly into the Navy at launch in 1939 ; the remainder entered merchant service with Standard Oil of New Jersey and Keystone Tankships before being acquired under the Two - Ocean Navy Act of July 1940 . A further eighteen were built for the Navy between 1943 and 1946 , with five additional units , sometimes called the Mispillion class , built to the slightly larger Type T3 - S2 - A3 design . Four of the Cimarrons were converted to escort carriers ( CVE ) in 1942 ; two others were sunk by enemy action ., The United States Merchant Marine refers to either United States civilian mariners, or to U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners, and the merchant vessels, are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, and engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine primarily transports cargo and passengers during peacetime; in times of war, the Merchant Marine can be an auxiliary to the United States Navy, and can be called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel for the military. Merchant Marine officers may also be commissioned as military officers by the Department of Defense. This is commonly achieved by commissioning unlimited tonnage Merchant Marine officers as Strategic Sealift Officers in the Naval Reserves., The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and replaced the United States Shipping Board which had existed since World War I. It was intended to formulate a merchant shipbuilding program to design and build five hundred modern merchant cargo ships to replace the World War I vintage vessels that comprised the bulk of the United States Merchant Marine, and to administer a subsidy system authorized by the Act to offset the cost differential between building in the U.S. and operating ships under the American flag. It also formed the United States Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ship's officers to man the new fleet., Subject: cimarron-class oiler , Relation: operator, Options: (A) foundation (B) north atlantic treaty organisation (C) united states navy (D) world war ii
Output: united states navy