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Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler

Class of replenishment oiler craft

Summary

Class of replenishment oiler craft

Field	Value
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	USNS Big Horn T-AO-198.jpg
image_caption
section2	{{Infobox ship/class overview
name	Henry J. Kaiser class
builders	* Avondale Shipyard, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana (16 ships)
class_before
class_after	John Lewis class
built_range	August 1984 – May 1996
in_service_range	December 1986 – present
total_ships_planned	18
total_ships_completed	16
total_ships_canceled	2 (Ship hulls scrapped in 2011)
total_ships_active	14 US, 1 Chile as of 1 March 2011
total_ships_retired	1
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
type	Fleet replenishment oiler
tonnage
displacement	* All ships: 9,500 tons light
length	677 ft
beam	97 ft
draft	35 ft maximum
power	* 16,000 hp per shaft
* {{convert	34,442	hp	abbr	on}} total sustained
propulsion	Two medium-speed Colt-Pielstick PC4-2/2 10V-570 diesel engines, two shafts, controllable pitch propellers
speed	20 kn
capacity	*Patuxent, Laramie, and Rappahannock: 159000 oilbbl of fuel oil and jet fuel
* Other ships:{{convert	178000	to	180000	oilbbl	m3	abbr	on}} of fuel oil and jet fuel
* All ships: {{convert	7400	sqft	m2	abbr	on}} of dry cargo space; eight 20 ft refrigerated containers with room for 128 pallets
complement	66 to 89 civilian personnel and 7 to 24 U.S. Navy personnel
sensors	* 2 × AN/SPS-59 LN-66 surface search radars
EW	* AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
armament	* Multiple .50 caliber machine guns
* Space, weight, and power reservations for 2 Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems<ref>{{cite web	title	T-AO-187 Kaiser Class - Archived 7/99	url=https://www.forecastinternational.com/archive/disp_old_pdf.cfm?ARC_ID=1823	website=www.forecastinternational.com	access-date=19 October 2017	quote=The electronics consist of two LN-66 radar units, a commercial fathometer and an SLQ-25 NIXIE torpedo decoy. They have space and weight reserved to mount two Mark 15 Phalanx close-in weapons systems when required.}}
aircraft_facilities	Helicopter landing platform
notes	* 5 refueling stations

Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Tampa Shipyards, Inc., Tampa, Florida (2 ships; neither completed)
, , and : 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
34,442 hp total sustained
Other ships:178000 to of fuel oil and jet fuel
All ships: 7400 sqft of dry cargo space; eight 20 ft refrigerated containers with room for 128 pallets
Space, weight, and power reservations for 2 Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems
2 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.

Twelve of the Kaisers are not double-hulled like most modern tankers. The class will be replaced by the John Lewis-class replenishment oiler.

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. 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.

, , and 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 ft at the sides and 6 ft 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), in November 1982. This contract included options for T-AOs 188, 189 and 190, which were exercised in January 1983, (T-AO 188) and November 1983, (T-AOs 189 and 190). A second-source contract, for T-AOs 191 and 192, was awarded to Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company, (Penn Ship), in May 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 in June 1988. Additional options on Avondale's contract were executed in June 1985 for T-AO 193, in February 1986 for T-AO 195, in February 1987 for T-AO 197, in June 1988 for T-AO 198, in October 1988 for T-AOs 200, 202 and 204, and in March 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. A new contract was executed with Tampa Shipyards, Inc., of Tampa FL, a division of the American Ship Building Company. 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, , which 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. The tenth to 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, and as such, they are prefixed as "USNS" instead of "USS", as commissioned ships are. After joining the fleet, the 16 completed ships all saw active service between 1986 and 1996, when 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 Almirante Montt.

Ships

Photo	Ship	Hull No.	Status	Years Active	NVR
Page
[[File:Henry J Kaiser replenishes Abraham Lincoln.jpg	150px	USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO-187)]]		T-AO-187	url=https://media.defense.gov/2022/Apr/20/2002980535/-1/-1/0/PB23%20SHIPBUILDING%20PLAN%2018%20APR%202022%20FINAL.PDF	title=Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels	publisher=United States Department of Defense	date=20 April 2022	access-date=6 October 2022}}	1986–present
[[File:DN-SC-87-06989.jpg	150px	USNS Joshua Humphreys (T-AO-188)]]		T-AO-188	Active - Proposed decommission 2026	1987-1996; 2005-2006; 2010-present
[[File:USNS John Lenthall T-AO-189.jpg	150px	USNS John Lenthall (T-AO-189)]]		T-AO-189	Active - Proposed decommission 2023	1987-1996; 1998–present
[[File:USNS Andrew J. Higgins (T-AO-190) underway in the Gulf of Mexico on 15 September 1987 (6429266).jpeg	150px	USNS Andrew J. Higgins (T-AO-190)]]	{{USNS	Andrew J. Higgins	2}}	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.https://web.archive.org/web/20110707102830/http://photos.al.com/4464/gallery/chilean_navy_ship_commissioned/index.html	1987-1996 (USA); 2010–present (Chile)
[[File:USNS Benjamin Isherwood (T-AO-191).jpg	150px	USNS Benjamin Isherwood (T-AO-191)]]	{{USNS	Benjamin Isherwood	2}}	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
[[File:USNS Henry Eckford (T-AO-192).jpg	150px	USNS Henry Eckford (T-AO-192)]]		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
[[File:USNS Walter S Diehl T-AO-193.jpg	150px	USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO-193)]]		T-AO-193	url=	title=Walter S Diehl	website=Naval Vessel Register	date=7 October 2022	access-date=2 November 2022}}	1988–2022
[[File:USS Cowpens (CG-63) and USNS John Ericsson (T-AO-194).jpg	150px	USNS John Ericsson (T-AO-194)]]		T-AO-194	Active - Proposed decommission 2026	1991–present
[[File:USNS Leroy Grumman T-AO-195.jpg	150px	USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO-195)]]		T-AO-195	Active - Proposed decommission 2025	1989–present
[[File:USNS Kanawha T-AO-196.jpg	150px	USNS Kanawha (T-AO-196)]]		T-AO-196	Active	1991–present
[[File:Pecos T-AO-197.jpg	150px	USNS Pecos (T-AO-197)]]		T-AO-197	Active - Proposed decommission 2026	1990–present
[[File:USNS Big Horn T-AO-198.jpg	150px	USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198)]]		T-AO-198	Ran aground September 2024	1992–present
[[File:Tippecanoe UNREP with Bulkeley.jpg	150px	USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO-199)]]		T-AO-199	Active	1993–present
[[File:USNS Guadalupe T-AO-200.jpg	150px	USNS Guadalupe (T-AO-200)]]		T-AO-200	Active	1992–present
[[File:USNS Patuxent T-AO-201.jpg	150px	USNS Patuxent (T-AO-201)]]		T-AO-201	Active	1995–present
[[File:US Navy 040823-N-0120R-051 The Military Sealift Command (MSC) oiler USNS Yukon (T-A0 202) prepares for a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) with USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) in a turbulent western Pacific Ocean.jpg	150px	USNS Yukon (T-AO-202)]]		T-AO-202	Active	1994–present
[[File:USNS Laramie T-AO-203.jpg	150px	USNS Laramie (T-AO-203)]]		T-AO-203	Active	1996–present
[[File:USNS Rappahannock T-AO-204.jpg	150px	USNS Rappahannock (T-AO-204)]]		T-AO-204	Active	1995–present

References

"SLQ-25A/B (NIXIE) - Archive 7/2005".
"T-AO-187 Kaiser Class - Archived 7/99".
"FLEET REPLENISHMENT OILERS - T-AO". US Navy.
"Navy John Lewis (TAO-205) Class Oiler Shipbuilding Program: Background and Issues for Congress".
(20 April 2022). "Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels". United States Department of Defense.
(7 October 2022). ["''Walter S Diehl''"]({{Naval Vessel Register URL).

Wikipedia Source

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