A sister ship of the Grayfox, TWR-841 |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USNSCS Grayfox |
| Builder: | Marinette Marine, Marinette, Wisconsin |
| Acquired: | 15 August 1997 |
| Commissioned: | 26 April 1998 |
| Homeport: | Port Huron, Michigan |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2009[update] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | USNSCC training ship |
| Displacement: | 213 long tons (216 t) full load |
| Length: | 120 ft (37 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draft: | 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Caterpillar 3512 TAC 1,175 hp (876 kW) diesel engines, 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 12–16 knots (22–30 km/h; 14–18 mph) cruising 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) maximum |
| Range: | 1,700 nmi (3,100 km) |
| Endurance: | 1 week at sea |
| Complement: | 30 Sea Cadets, 6 Sea Cadet Officers |
The USNSCS Grayfox (TWR-825) is currently the largest ship owned by the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps. She is homeported in Port Huron, Michigan and is used by the USNSCC for shipboard training. The USNSCS prefix stands for "United States Naval Sea Cadet Ship."
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The Grayfox started life in 1985 as a 120-foot Torpedo Weapons Retriever, one of ten. She was assigned to the United States Navy's Atlantic Undersea Testing and Evaluation Center (AUTEC), Andros Island, Bahamas, where her job was to launch and retrieve test torpedoes and targets. Eventually, as torpedoes became less of a threat, the Navy decided to mothball her in 1995. She was then sent to Green Cove Springs, Florida, where a group of sponsors found her and decided the Sea Cadets needed their own ship to train on. The Secretary of the Navy transferred the USNS Grayfox to the USNSCC on August 15, 1997.
Since she had been in mothballs for quite some time, the Grayfox needed a lot of attention. All of the torpedo rollers had to be removed from the after deck and returned to AUTEC. The ramp had to be welded over and, she needed to be chipped and painted. Most of her systems required attention in one form or another. After a long winter of hard work by the cadets and volunteers, she was finally starting to look like a Navy ship.[1]
She was commissioned in the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps on April 26, 1998 as the USNSCS Grayfox by Mrs. Jack Kennedy, wife of the former National President of the Navy League of the United States.
The ship has berthing for 30 cadets and 6 officers. The large berthing capacity is due to the extension of the main cabin that was constructed by James M. Hannan Division and other volunteers.[1]