Henry J. Kaiser-class oiler

USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198)
Class overview
Name:	Henry J. Kaiser
Builders:	Avondale Shipyard, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana (14 ships) Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Tampa Shipyards, Inc., Tampa, Florida (2 ships; neither completed)
Preceded by:	Cimarron class
Built:	August 1984-May 1996
In service:	December 1986-present
Building:	0
Planned:	18
Completed:	16
Cancelled:	2 (both laid up incomplete)
Active:	15 US, 1 Chile as of 1 March 2011
Laid up:	2 as of 1 March 2011 (incomplete ships)
Lost:	0
Retired:	0
General characteristics
Class and type:	Henry J. Kaiser class fleet replenishment oiler
Tonnage:	31,200 deadweight tons
Displacement:	All ships: 9,500 tons light Patuxent, Laramie, and Rappahannock: 42,000 long tons (42,674 metric tons) full load All other ships: Variously reported as 40,700 long tons (41,353 metric tons) and as 42,382 tons full load
Length:	677 ft (206 m)
Beam:	97 ft 5 in (29.69 m)
Draft:	35 ft (11 m) maximum
Installed power:	16,000 hp (12,000 kW) per shaft 34,442 hp (25,683 kW) total sustained
Propulsion:	Two medium-speed Colt-Pielstick PC4-2/2 10V-570 diesel engines, two shafts, cp propellers
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h)
Capacity:	Patuxent, Laramie, and Rappahannock: 159,000 barrels (25,300 m3) of fuel oil and jet fuel Other ships:178,000 to 180,000 barrels (28,300 to 28,600 m3) of fuel oil and jet fuel All ships: 7,400 square feet (690 m2) of dry cargo space; eight 20-foot (6.1 m) refrigerated containers with room for 128 pallets
Complement:	66 to 89 civilian personnel and 7 to 24 U.S. Navy personnel
Armament:	Peacetime: none Wartime: probably 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft carried:	None
Aviation facilities:	Helicopter landing platform
Notes:	Five refueling stations Two dry cargo transfer rigs

The Henry J. Kaiser class is an American class of eighteen fleet replenishment oilers which began construction in August 1984. The class comprises fifteen oilers which are operated by Military Sealift Command to provide underway replenishment of fuel to United States Navy combat ships and jet fuel for aircraft aboard aircraft carriers at sea; one ship operated by the United States from 1987 to 1996, was sold to Chile in 2009 and commissioned into the Chilean Navy in 2010; and two ships were scrapped in 2011 while still incomplete.

Technical Overview

There are stations on both sides of each ship for underway replenishment of fuel and stores. The ships in this class have a small capacity to carry and transfer fresh and frozen foods as well as other materials, and have two dry cargo transfer rigs.

Patuxent, Laramie, and Rappahannock differ from the other 15 ships in having double hulls to meet the requirements of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Hull separation is 6 feet (1.83 m) at the sides and 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) on the bottom; this resulted in a 12% reduction in cargo capacity.

Construction Program

The circumstances of the construction program were convoluted and it is worthwhile to spell them out here. The original contract, for T-AO 187, was awarded to Avondale Industries, (Avondale), on November 12, 1982: this contract included options for T-AOs 188, 189 and 190, which were exercised on January 20, 1983, (T-AO 188) and November 22, 1983, (T-AOs 189 and 190). A second-source contract, for T-AOs 191 and 192, was awarded to Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company, (Penn Ship), on May 6, 1985. This contract included options for T-AOs 194 and 196, which were never exercised: after Penn Ship began to have cash flow problems, the Navy transferred these options from Penn Ship's contract to Avondale's contract and exercised them on June 16, 1988. Additional options on Avondale's contract were executed on June 28, 1985, for T-AO 193, on February 27, 1986, for T-AO 195; on February 12, 1987, for T-AO 197; on June 20, 1988, for T-AO 198; on October 6, 1988, for T-AOs 200, 202 and 204; and on March 24, 1989, for T-AOs 199, 201 and 203.

The Navy's contract with Penn Ship for T-AOs 191 and 192 was terminated before the ships were complete and a new contract was executed with Tampa Shipyards, Inc., of Tampa FL, a division of the American Ship Building Company. (Note that this company should not be confused with Tampa Shipbuilding Company, (TASCO), which was a totally different entity, at a different location, long gone by 1989.) Disputes over corrective construction and materials costs between the U.S. Navy and Tampa Shipyards resulted in termination of this contract in 1993, when T-AO 191 was said to be 95% complete and T-AO 192 84% complete. The Navy then determined that the ships were no longer needed as oilers, and undertook a study of the feasibility of converting them to ammunition ships. This study concluded that such a conversion was cost-prohibitive and the ships were placed in long-term storage in an incomplete condition. They were sold for recycling in 2011.

Naming

The class is named for its lead unit, USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO-187), which in turn is named for the American industrialist and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser (1882–1967). The first nine ships were named for American shipbuilders, inventors, naval architects, and aeronautical engineers who played important roles in the history of the U.S. Navy, in some cases being the first U.S. Navy ships to be named for the men. The tenth through eighteenth ships were named after American rivers, which is a more traditional naming convention for U.S. Navy oilers.

Operations

In U.S. Navy service, the ships serve in a non-commissioned status in the Military Sealift Command, with primarily civilian crews. After joining the fleet, the 16 completed ships all saw active service between 1986 and 1996, when Andrew J. Higgins became the first unit of the class to be laid up. Since then, some of the others have also spent periods out of service in reserve or in a limited operational status.

Foreign transfer

Andrew J. Higgins never re-entered U.S. service after being laid up in 1996. She was sold to Chile in 2009 and was commissioned into the Chilean Navy in 2010 as Almirate Montt.

Ships

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry J. Kaiser class oilers.

Photo	Ship	Hull No.	Status	Years Active	NVR Page
	Henry J. Kaiser	T-AO-187	Active—Southern California Duty Oiler	1986–present	AO187
	Joshua Humphreys	T-AO-188	Inactivated 1996, returned to service 2005	1987-1996; 2005-2006; 2010-present	AO188
	John Lenthall	T-AO-189	Active	1987-1996; 1998–present	AO189
	Andrew J. Higgins	T-AO-190	Inactivated May 1996. Sold to the Chilean Navy May 2009. Towed to Atlantic Marine Alabama shipyard, Mobile, Alabama, September 2009 for three-month refit. Commissioned in Chilean Navy on 10 February 2010 and renamed Almirante Montt.	1987-1996 (USA); 2010–present (Chile)	AO190
	Benjamin Isherwood	T-AO-191	Cancelled when 95.3% complete, transferred to the Maritime Administration, laid up in the James River Reserve Fleet, scrapped in 2011	Launched 1988, christened 1991, never in service	AO191
	Henry Eckford	T-AO-192	Cancelled when 84% complete, transferred to the Maritime Administration, laid up in the James River Reserve Fleet, scrapped in 2011	Launched 1989, never in service	AO192
	Walter S. Diehl	T-AO-193	Active	1988–present	AO193
	John Ericsson	T-AO-194	Active	1991–present	AO194
	Leroy Grumman	T-AO-195	Active	1989–present	AO195
	Kanawha	T-AO-196	Active	1991–present	AO196
	Pecos	T-AO-197	Active	1990–present	AO197
	Big Horn	T-AO-198	Active	1992–present	AO198
	Tippecanoe	T-AO-199	Active	1993–present	AO199
	Guadalupe	T-AO-200	Active	1992–present	AO200
	Patuxent	T-AO-201	Active	1995–present	AO201
	Yukon	T-AO-202	Active	1994–present	AO202
	Laramie	T-AO-203	Active	1996–present	AO203
	Rappahannock	T-AO-204	Active	1995–present	AO204