USNS Pecos (T-AO-197)

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See USS Pecos for other ships of the same name.

Career
USNS Pecos T-AO-197
Ordered:
Laid down:	17 February 1988
Launched:	21 April 1990
Commissioned:	6 July 1990
Decommissioned:	n/a
Fate:	In service
General characteristics
Displacement:	9,500 tons light; 42,382 tons full
Length:	677 ft (206 m)
Beam:	97 ft 5 in (30 m)
Draft:	35 ft (11 m)
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement:	Civilians: 18 Officers, 64 Merchant Seamen; Navy: 1 Officer, 20 Enlisted
Armament:	None

USNS Pecos (T-AO-197) is a Henry J. Kaiser-class underway replenishment oiler operated by the Military Sealift Command to support ships of the United States Navy, and the third such ship to be named after the Pecos River.

Pecos was laid down 17 February 1988 at Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana; launched 21 April 1990; and delivered to the Navy and placed in service with MSC as USNS Pecos (T-AO-197) on 6 July 1990. The ship is equipped with a helicopter platform to allow for at-sea transfer of personnel and supplies. Pecos is currently part of the MSC Naval Auxiliary Force, MSC Pacific and has received the following awards: the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (twice), and the Southwest Asia Service Medal.

On 9 December 1999 a U.S. Marine Corps H-46 helicopter crashed into the Pecos and sank while participating in a training mission. 7 of the 18 personnel on board the helicopter were lost in the accident.

The command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) prepares to conduct an underway replenishment-at-sea (RAS) with Pecos (T-AO-197) after a four-day port visit to Hong Kong on 10 December 2000.

[edit] References

T-AO-197 Pecos. Fleet Oiler (AO) Photo Index. Retrieved on April 4, 2006.
CNN.com: Search intensifies for 7 Marines after helicopter crash. Retrieved on February 27, 2007.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

USNS Pecos (T-AO-197)

Footage from YouTube of the CH-47 accident on 9 DEC 1999.
CNN.com article regarding the CH-46 accident on 9 DEC 1999.

The Pecos pulls alongside the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) for a replenishment-at-sea on 31 March 2005. Nimitz was conducting "Fleet Replacement Squadron Carrier Qualifications" off the coast of Southern California.

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

v • d • e Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler

Henry J. Kaiser \| Joshua Humphreys \| John Lenthall \| Andrew J. Higgins \| Benjamin Isherwood \| Henry Eckford \| Walter S. Diehl \| John Ericsson \| Leroy Grumman \| Kanawha \| *Pecos* \| Big Horn \| Tippecanoe \| Guadalupe \| Patuxent \| Yukon \| Laramie \| Rappahannock

List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy