| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 23 May 1997 |
| Builder: | National Steel and Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down: | 24 August 1999 |
| Launched: | 28 July 2000 |
| In service: | 2 March 2001 |
| Status: | in service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Watson-class vehicle cargo ship |
| Displacement: | 29,000 tons |
| Length: | 950 ft |
| Beam: | 106 ft |
| Draft: | 34 ft |
| Propulsion: | Gas turbine |
USNS Watkins (T-AKR-315) is one of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 33 ships in the Prepositioning Program. She is a Watson-class vehicle cargo ship.
She was named for Master Sergeant Travis E. Watkins, a Medal of Honor recipient.
Laid down on 24 August 1999 and launched on 28 July 2000, Watkins was put into service in the Pacific Ocean on 2 March 2001.
According to The Guardian the human rights group Reprieve identified the Watkins and sixteen other USN vessels as having held "ghost prisoners" in clandestine extrajudicial detention.[1]
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