Printer Friendly Page

Newest Lewis and Clark ship launched (5/16)

The U.S. Military Sealift Command has issued the following news release concerning the USNS Richard E. Byrd, a T-AKE ship that will be crewed by members of the SIU Government Services Division. The release also is available on MSC’s web site HERE Navy launches newest T-AKE USNS Richard E. Byrd, the U.S. Navy’s newest ship in the Lewis-and-Clark-class of dry cargo/ammunition ships owned and operated by Military Sealift Command, was launched May 15 during an evening ceremony at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego. Against a backdrop of fireworks that lit the sky, nearly 1,500 people watched as the new ship slid into the water for the first time. Among the officials taking part in the evening’s festivities were Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter, MSC Commander Rear Adm. Robert Reilly, Jr. and Program Executive Officer for Ships Rear Adm. Charles Goddard. The ship is named in honor of the U.S. Navy admiral who explored the South Pole and Antarctica. Byrd, a Medal of Honor recipient, led the first aerial expedition over the North Pole. Bolling Byrd Clark, Byrd’s oldest daughter, christened her father’s namesake by breaking the traditional bottle of champagne against the ship’s bow while the flag that her father hoisted in Antarctica nearly 80 years ago flew above on the foremast. “It is no accident that the ship you see before you is named for a Navy man whose horizon was literally anywhere in the world,” said Reilly in the ceremony’s principal speech. “This ship will always be on the move, carrying the strength of the U.S. Navy anywhere America’s warriors need it.” USNS Byrd is the fourth ship in the Navy’s new 11-ship T-AKE class and will deliver ammunition, provisions, stores, spare parts, potable water and petroleum products to the Navy’s carrier and expeditionary strike groups and other naval forces underway. T-AKEs have the largest cargo-carrying capacity and the largest flight deck of any combat logistic force ship afloat. “This vessel doesn’t have just one greatest advantage,” said Capt. Robert Jaeger, the ship’s designated civil service master who as sailed on MSC ships for 25 years. “For all the tasks it is designed to do, the T-AKE does each one of them superbly.” The 689-foot USNS Byrd is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in November of this year and will be crewed by 124 civil service mariners and 11 military personnel. These new ships will substantially upgrade the Navy’s ability to maintain its forward-deployed forces, replacing aging, single-mission ammunition ships and combat stores ships that are nearing the end of their service lives. General Dynamics NASSCO has been awarded contracts to build nine T-AKE ships for the Navy. Two additional ships are expected to be ordered by the Navy over the next two years for a total class of 11 ships. Military Sealift Command operates approximately 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, chart ocean bottoms, conduct undersea surveillance, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military equipment and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces. # # #