USNS Shoshone

USNS Shoshone
USNS Shoshone (T-AO-151)
USNS Shoshone (T-AO-151)
History
United States
NameUSNS Shoshone
NamesakeThe Shoshone River in Wyoming
BuilderSun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania
Laid down15 August 1955
Launched17 January 1957
In serviceApril 1957 until probably mid-1980s
Out of serviceProbably mid-1980s until 23 December 1994
StrickenDate unknown; transferred to Maritime Administration 1 October 1994 for lay-up in National Defense Reserve Fleet
Reinstated11 May 2002 (reacquired for further transfer to the Office of Naval Research); fate unknown
IdentificationIMO number7737195
FateScrapped 2014
General characteristics
Class and typeMaumee-class fleet oiler
Displacement
  • 7,814 tons light
  • 32,953 tons full load
Length614 ft 6 in (187.30 m)
Beam83 ft 6 in (25.45 m)
Draft32 ft (9.8 m)
PropulsionSteam turbine, one shaft
Speed18.9 knots (35 km/h)
Capacity190,000 barrels (30,000 m3)
Complement44 to 52
Armamentnone
NotesLater reclassified as a transport oiler and redesignated T-AO-151T

USNS Shoshone (T-AO-151), later T-AO-151T, was a United States Navy Maumee-class oiler, later transport oiler, in non-commissioned service with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), later Military Sealift Command, from 1957 until probably the mid-1980s.

Shoshone, third U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, was laid down at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Chester, Pennsylvania, on 15 August 1955 and launched on 17 January 1957, sponsored by Mrs. James E. Van Zandt. She entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under the control of the Military Sea Transport Service, later the Military Sealift Command, with a primarily civilian crew in April 1957.

Shoshone went into operation for MSTS as a civilian-crewed ship. Her role was point‑to‑point delivery of fuel oil and gasoline to the U.S. armed forces at a variety of Atlantic and Pacific ports. She eventually was reclassified as a "transport oiler", resulting her redesignation from "T-AO-151" (as an oiler) to "T-AO-151T" (as a transport oiler). By 1974 she was operating from United States Gulf Coast ports.

Shoshone was placed out of service at an unrecorded date, probably in the mid-1980s. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register, also at an unrecorded date, and was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 1 October 1994 to be laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay at Benicia, California.

In 2001 she was used as an experimental platform by MH Systems to demonstrate the American Underpressure System (AUPS); a pressurized gas system intended to stop or significantly decrease the amount of oil spillage from single and double-hulled tankers in the event of a hull rupture.[1] Following the test, the Shoshone was returned to the Reserve Fleet in August 2001. Google Earth images from August 25, 2009 still show the Shoshone as being part of the Suisun Bay National Defense Reserve Fleet. (38°3′52″N 122°6′18″W / 38.06444°N 122.10500°W / 38.06444; -122.10500)

She was scrapped in 2014.

References

[edit]
General
Specific
  1. ^ http://www.mhsystemscorp.com/tech5.html Full-Scale Test: American Underpressure System (AUPS) On Board USNS Shoshone