Supply-class fast combat support ship

The Supply-class fast combat support ships are a class of four United States Navy supply ships used to refuel, rearm, and restock ships in the United States Navy in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.[1]

USNS Supply in 2006
Class overview
BuildersNational Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, California
Operators United States Navy
Preceded bySacramento class
Completed4
Active2
Laid up2
Retired0
General characteristics
TypeFast combat support ship
Displacement48,800 long tons (49,600 t)
Length754 ft (229.8 m) (overall)
Beam107 ft (32.6 m) (extreme beam)
Draft39 ft (11.9 m)
Installed power105,000 hp (78 MW)
Propulsionfour General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines, Two Propellers
Speed25 knots (46 km/h)
Armament
  • Multiple .50-caliber machine guns
  • Small arms
Aircraft carriedTwo CH-46E Sea Knight or MH-60S Seahawk helicopters

These are the only US Navy resupply ships able to keep up with the strike groups, but due to their cost to operate the Navy announced intentions to retire them starting in 2014.[2] The Supply-class ships are built to military combatant standards and are shock hardened.[3]

As of early 2023, USNS Rainier and USNS Bridge have been taken out of service and struck. Along with the remaining two Supply-class ships, US Navy fleets are currently supplied by Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships as well as Henry J. Kaiser-class and John Lewis-class replenishment oilers.

Ships

edit
Ship Hull
No.
Builder Commissioning–
Decommissioning
NVR
Page
Status
Supply T-AOE-6 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, CA 1994–2001 (Transferred to MSC) T-AOE-6 active
Rainier T-AOE-7 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, CA 1995–2003 (Transferred to MSC) T-AOE-7 reserve
Arctic T-AOE-8 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, CA 1995–2002 (Transferred to MSC) T-AOE-8 active
Bridge T-AOE-10 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, CA 1998–2004 (Transferred to MSC) T-AOE-10 reserve

General characteristics

edit
  • Displacement:19,700 tons (empty), 49,000 tons (full)
  • Length:754 ft (229.8 m) (overall)
  • Beam:107 ft (32.6 m) (extreme beam)
  • Draft: 39 ft (11.9 m)
  • Export power:78.33MW
  • Maximum speed:25 knots
  • Range 6,000 nm
  • Complement 40 officers + 667 enlisted (USN), 176 civilians, 30-45 military (MSC)
  • Propulsion:4 x General Electric LM2500

Cargo capacity

  • Diesel Fuel Marine (DFM): 1,965,600 US gallons (7,441,000 L)
  • JP-5 fuel: 2,620,800 US gallons (9,921,000 L)
  • Bottled gas: 800 bottles
  • Ordnance stowage: 2,150 short tons (1,950 t)
  • Chill and freeze stowage: 250 short tons (230 t)
  • Water: 20,000 US gallons (76,000 L)

Notes

edit
  1. ^ USNS Supply-class Factsheet
  2. ^ CAVAS, CHRISTOPHER P. (12 July 2014). "Big Supply Ships May Get Reprieve - For Now". www.defensenews.com. Gannett Government Media. Archived from the original on July 18, 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  3. ^ "AOE 6 Supply Fast Combat Support Ship". fas.org. Retrieved 13 October 2017. The AOE 6 class ships, which are built to a MIL-SPEC combatant standards design, and have survivability features (i.e., shock, blast, etc.) equivalent to other ships in the CVBG, significantly extends the endurance of the CVBG for combat operations.

References

edit