USNS Cumberland (T-AO-153)

History
United States
Name:	USNS Cumberland (T-AO-153)
Namesake:	Cumberland, Maryland
Owner:	United States Navy
Operator:	Military Sealift Command
Launched:	9 May 1944
Completed:	May 1944
Fate:	Scrapped 1972
General characteristics
Class & type:	Type T2-SE-A1 tanker
Displacement:	5,782 tons(light) 21,880 tons (full)
Length:	523 ft 6 in (159.56 m)
Beam:	68 ft (21 m)
Draft:	30 ft (9.1 m)
Propulsion:	turbo-electric, single screw. 8,000hp
Speed:	15.5 knots
Capacity:	140,000 barrels
Complement:	251

The SS Fort Cumberland was one of the nearly 500 Type T2-SE-A1 tankers ordered by the Maritime Commission during World War II. She was named for the city of Cumberland, Maryland while her predecessors were named for the river. After the war she was sold to Standard Oil of New Jersey and sailed under the name Esso Cumberland.

In 1956 with the Suez crisis Esso Cumberland was acquired by the Navy and assigned to the Military Sealift Command as USNS Cumberland (T-AO-153).

In 1966, Cumberland was converted by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company to a floating electric power supply ship for use in Vietnam by the United States Army. Stationed at Qui Nhon, Vietnam her main machinery generated electricity which was transmitted, via power cables, ashore to sub-stations. Later she was moved to Cam Rahn Bay.

Cumberland was sold to Kaohsiung shipbreakers in February 1972.

References

• Navsource
• t2tanker.org
• Wildenberg, Thomas (1996). Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. Retrieved 2009-04-28.