USNS Supply (T-AOE-6)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
| |
| Ordered: | 22 January 1987 |
| Builder: | National Steel and Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 24 February 1989 |
| Launched: | 6 October 1990 |
| Commissioned: | 26 February 1994 |
| Decommissioned: | 13 July 2001 |
| In service: | 13 July 2001 |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2016 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Approx. 48,800 tons (49,600 t) |
| Length: | 754.6 ft (230.0 m) |
| Beam: | 107 ft (33 m) |
| Height: | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Installed power: | 105,000 hp (78 MW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines |
| Speed: | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Complement: | 176 civilians, 59 military |
| Aircraft carried: | A combination of two MH-60S helicopters |
USNS Supply is the lead ship of the Supply-class fast combat support ships. She was laid down on 24 February 1989 and was launched on 6 October 1990. Supply was commissioned 26 February 1994 at Naval Air Station, North Island in San Diego, California. After her initial outfitting in San Diego, she sailed to Norfolk, Virginia via the Panama Canal and Caribbean Sea, arriving on 7 August 1994.
After service in the United States Navy from 1994 through 2001 as USS Supply (AOE-6), her weapons systems were removed and she was transferred on August 29, 2003 to the Military Sealift Command, which designated her USNS Supply (T-AOE-6).
Supply has the speed to keep up with the carrier strike groups. She rapidly replenishes Navy task forces. She receives petroleum products, ammunition and stores from shuttle ships and redistributes these items simultaneously to carrier strike group ships. This reduces the vulnerability of serviced ships by reducing alongside time.
Like other fast combat support ships, she is part of MSC's Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force.
As of 2014 it resides at BAE Shipyards in Mobile, Alabama for repairs.
Al Qaeda target
USNS Supply was allegedly the target of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).[1] AQIS claimed through Twitter and other social media forums that the AQIS attack on Pakistan Navy frigate PNS Zulfiqar was intended to attack USS Supply (sic). AQIS report contradicts the official Pakistan Navy account of the attack which states that the frigate was attacked by AQIS at the Naval Dockyard in Karachi. AQIS claims that PNS Zulfiqar crew were involved in the attempt to take over the ship at sea for attacking USS Supply and its unnamed naval escort.
References
- ↑ Thomas Joscelyn (Sep 29, 2014). "Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent claims attacks on Pakistani ships were more audacious than reported". The Long War Journal.
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.
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