USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR-300)

Bob Hope in harbor at Souda Bay in Crete
History
Name: USNS Bob Hope
Namesake: Bob Hope
Awarded: 2 September 1993
Builder: Avondale Shipyard
Laid down: 29 May 1995
Launched: 27 March 1997
In service: 18 November 1998
Status: in active service, as of 2016
General characteristics
Displacement: 62,069 tons full
Length: 951 ft 5 in (290.0 m)
Beam: 106 ft (32.3 m)
Draft: 34 ft 10 in (10.6 m) maximum
Propulsion: 4 x Colt Pielstick 10 PC4.2 V diesels; 65,160 hp(m) (47.89 MW)(Beloit, WI)Falk Gear Power Transmission (Milwaukee,WI)
Speed: 24 knots (44 km/h)
Capacity: 380,000 sq ft (35,000 m2)
Complement: 26 to 45 civilian crew; up to 50 active duty
Aviation facilities: Helicopter landing area

USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR-300), the lead ship of her class of vehicle cargo ships for Army vehicle prepositioning, is the only naval ship of the United States to be named after Bob Hope, the entertainer. Very few ships of the United States Navy have been named after a person who was alive at the time of the christening.

The contract to build her was awarded to Avondale Industries on 2 September 1993 and her keel was laid down on 29 May 1995. She was launched on 27 March 1997, and delivered on 18 November 1998.[1]

A non-combatant roll-on/roll-off (RORO) vessel crewed by U.S. civilian mariners under the Navy's Military Sealift Command, Bob Hope and other ships of the class are used to preposition tanks, trucks and other wheeled vehicles and supplies needed to support an army heavy brigade.

Bob Hope has already seen service delivering supplies and equipment to the Balkans and Iraq.

Features

The ship has two 110-ton Hagglunds deck crane pedestals mounted with twin cranes.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "USNS Bob Hope (9820096)". ABS Record. American Bureau of Shipping. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  2. ↑ GlobalSecurity.org: T-AKR USNS Bob Hope

External links

Media related to USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR-300) at Wikimedia Commons

A helicopter being loaded onto Bob Hope in Antwerp, Belgium
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