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The Super Supply Ship

December
12, 2006: The U.S. Navy has ordered the 9th of 12 T-AKE replenishment ships.
These 40,000 ton, 689 foot long ships replace Vietnam war era dry cargo,
ammunition and oiler supply ships. Built to civilian ship standards, they
enable American shipyards to retain a non-warship building capability. The
T-AKEs carry a crew of 124, nearly all civilians. The T-AKE can carry
everything a warship at sea would need (food, including frozen stuff, spare
parts, munitions, petroleum products and all manner of goods). The T-AKEs can
cover over 800 kilometers a day, and spend most of their time chasing after
U.S. warships, delivering needed supplies. Each T-AKE can carry 2,400 tons of
fuels, and has 1.1 million cubic feet of hold space for dry cargo (including
ammunition). The fourth T-AKE will enter service this month, with the twelfth
ship of the class being available in 2010. The navy will still have oilers
(tankers) for supplying most of the petroleum needed. But the ability to carry
some petroleum products simply makes the T-AKE more flexible, and useful.

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xylene       1/4/2007 6:23:44 PM
I can understand the desire for flexibility but combining dry cargo and petroluem on the same ship seems inefficient. 2,400 tons of fuel is useful in a crunch but doubt it is efficient to justify a voyage. Seems the ship will be used for primarily dry cargo with fuel delivery capability, but if the fuel option is not used everytime, seems like a waste of stowage space.
 
Also strange crewing requirement since civilian officers will need to know dry cargo and tanker operations. Most civilian merchant officers specialize in dry cargo or tankers. A few know both , but that is the exception than norm.
 
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KlubMarcus       2/9/2007 11:32:52 PM
The fuel they carry would be good for aircraft because I figure jet fuel would run out pretty fast. The crews in those ships are probably ex-Navy and/or merchant marine types so the job(s) will be easy for them.
I can understand the desire for flexibility but combining dry cargo and petroluem on the same ship seems inefficient. 2,400 tons of fuel is useful in a crunch but doubt it is efficient to justify a voyage. Seems the ship will be used for primarily dry cargo with fuel delivery capability, but if the fuel option is not used everytime, seems like a waste of stowage space.

 

Also strange crewing requirement since civilian officers will need to know dry cargo and tanker operations. Most civilian merchant officers specialize in dry cargo or tankers. A few know both , but that is the exception than norm.
 
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