SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084)

SS Cheseapeake (AOT-584)
History
United States
Name:	SS Chesapeake
Namesake:	Chesapeake Bay
Builder:	Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard
Completed:	29 October 1964
Acquired:	15 December 1987 (by Maritime Administration
In service:	2000 with Military Sealift Command
Out of service:	2009
Renamed:	SS Chesapeake 22 July 1980 (previously was SS Hess Voyager)
Status:	Beaumont Reserve Fleet
Notes:	Served as commercial tanker SS Hess Voyager 1964–1980 and SS Chesapeake 1980–1987 Laid up in Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Fleet 1987–2000
General characteristics
Type:	Transport oiler
Displacement:	14,977 tons (light) 48,993 tons (full load)
Length:	736 ft (224 m)
Beam:	102 ft (31 m)
Draft:	39 ft (12 m) maximum
Installed power:	15,000 horsepower (11.2 megawatts)
Propulsion:	Two Combustion Engineering boilers, two Bethlehem turbines, one shaft
Speed:	14 knots)
Capacity:	257,000 barrels (40,900 m^3) of fuel oil
Complement:	37
Armament:	None
Notes:	The ship's integral offshore petroleum discharge system (OPDS) allows her to discharge her entire cargo from up to 4 nautical miles (7.4 kilometers) off shore

The SS Chesapeake is a transport oiler that was in service with the United States Navy from 2000 to 2009. She was operated by Military Sealift Command.

Construction and commercial service 1964–1987

SS Chesapeake was built by the Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard at Baltimore, Maryland, and delivered to the Hess Shipping Company on 29 October 1964. She entered commercial service with the company as the tanker SS Hess Voyager. She was renamed SS Chesapeake on 22 July 1980 She is a near exact twin to her sister ship SS Petersburg

Ready Reserve Force 1987–2000

The U.S. Maritime Administration relieved Hess Shipping of Chesapeake under an exchange program on 15 December 1987. Chesapeake was then laid up in the Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Fleet until 2000.

Military Sealift Command Service 2000–2009

Chesapeake was activated for service in the Military Sealift Command in 2000 as a transport oiler. Interocean Ugland Management Corporation of Voorhees, New Jersey, operates her with a civilian crew under contract to Military Sealift Command as a Common User Tanker as SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084). Other OPDS tankers are the SS American Osprey, SS Petersburg, and the SS Mount Washington. Chesapeake was removed from service in 2009 and currently resides in the Beaumont Reserve Fleet.

Gallery

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  SS Chesapeake, (T-AOT-5084), Chesapeake amidships view of SALM

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  SS Chesapeake, (T-AOT-5084), Chesapeake deck view of SALM

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  SS Chesapeake, (T-AOT-5084), Chesapeake deploying SALM

References

• FM 10-67-1 CONCEPTS AND EQUIPMENT OF PETROLEUM OPERATIONS
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive: SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084)
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.