US NAvy T-AKR Roll on/Roll Off military sea lift vessels

The United States maintains a fleet of one hundred and fourteen vessels, with fifty other vessels kept in an advanced state of readiness to call up as needed. These vessels are all operated outside of the official US Navy.

The active vessels are usually manned by a mixed crew of civilian militaryr sea lift personnel (many of them former Navy personnel or retired Navy personnel) and active-duty US Navy personnel.

Of the many vessels the US utilizes in this fashion and for missions ranging from submarine tenders, to Replenishment vessles, to oilers, tankers, pre-positioning, etc., the largest are the nineteen massive T-AKR LMSR vessels.

These are the US's Large, medium speed, roll on/roll off vehicle cargo vessels, T-AKR LMSR. They are used for Pre-positioning of large amounts of military vehicles, including tanks, IFVs, APC,s HUMVEEs, Helicopters, Trucks, etc. all around the world, and also make up an important part of the United States development of "Basing from the Sea" plans, meant to work with the Afloat Forward Staging Base vessels, the Mobile Landing Platforms, and the Amphibious Ready groups of the US Navy which consists of the LHDs, LHAs, LPDs and other naval Amphibious vessels.

There are four classes of T-AKR LSMR vessels that comprise these ships.

WATSON CLASS T-AKR LARGE, MEDIUM SPEED RORO VESSELS


These are the largest class of T-AKR vessels, both in terms of number of ships and in terms of their displacement. This class of eight vessels are the largest vessels operated by the US military outside of Nuclear Aircraft Carriers.

Specifications said:

Builder: National Steel and Shipbuilding
Displacement: 62,970 tons full load
Length: 951.4 ft (290.0 m)
Beam: 106 ft (32 m)
Draft: 34.1 ft (10.4 m) maximum
Propulsion: 2 GE Marine LM gas turbines; 64,000 hp (7.7 MW); 2 shafts, cp props.
Crew: 30 civilian crew (up to 45); 25 Active duty (up to 50)
Load: 393,000 sq. ft. cargo space
Aviation Facilities: Helicopter landing Space

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The eight vessels in class include (with the dates they were laid down, launched, and commissioned):
, May 1996, July 1997, July 1998
, April 1997, February 1998, December 1998
, November 1997, October 1998, July 1999
, June 1998, August 1999, June 2000
, January 1999, December 1999, May 2000
, August 1999, July 2000, March 2001
, April 2000, March 2001, August 2001
, October 2000, April 2002, September 2002

Note: Several of these vessels were laid down and launched in just over 11 months total time. Amazing for a complex vessel of over 60,000 tons.

BOB HOPE CLASS T-AKR LARGE, MEDIUM SPEED RORO VESSELS


Almost as large as the Watson class, the Bob Hope class of T-AKR vessels serves similarly to provide the United States Military with large, per-positioned, storage and transoprt for military vehicles, armor, helicopters, etc.

Specifications said:

Builder: Avondale Shipyard
Displacement: 62,070 tons full load
Length: 951.5 ft (290.0 m)
Beam: 106 ft (32 m)
Draft: 34.8 ft (10.4 m) maximum
Propulsion: 4 x Colt Pielstick 10 PC4.2 V diesels; 65,160 hp(m) (47.89 MW), 2 Shafts
Crew: 30 civilian crew (up to 45); 25 Active duty (up to 50)
Load: 380,000 sq. ft. cargo space
Aviation Facilities: Helicopter landing Space

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The seven vessels in class include (with the dates they were laid down, launched, and commissioned):
, May 1993, March 1997, November 1998
, April 1996, October 1997, August 1998
, March 1997, June 1998, March 2000
, November 1997, May 1999, January 2001
, June 1998, January 2000, July 2001
, May 1999, November 2000, July 2002
, December 1999, August 2001, September 2003

SHUGHART CLASS T-AKR LARGE, MEDIUM SPEED RORO VESSELS


The Shugart class are conversions of former commercial RORO vessels that make up another class T-AKR LMSR vessels that provide the United States Military with large, per-positioned, storage and transoprt for military vehicles, armor, helicopters, etc. These are smaller than the Bob Hope or Watson classes, displacing in in excess of 54,000 tons each, for the two vessels that make up the class

Specifications said:

.

Builder: Lindovaerftet (builder) National Steel (Conversion)
Displacement: 54, 450 tons full load
Length: 908.9ft (277.0 m)
Beam: 105.6 ft (32 m)
Draft: 34.8 ft (10.4 m) maximum
Propulsion: 1 Burmeister & Wain 12L90 GFCA diesel; 1 shaft; bow and stern thrusters
Crew: 28 civilian crew (up to 45); 30 Active duty (up to 50)
Load: 312,450 sq. ft. cargo space
Aviation Facilities: Helicopter landing Space

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The two vessels in class include (with the dates they were laid down, launched, and commissioned):
, (ex-Laura Maersk) January1980, December 1980, May 1996
, (ex-Leise Maersk) July 1980, June 1981, May 1996

GORDON CLASS T-AKR LARGE, MEDIUM SPEED RORO VESSELS


The Gordon class are conversions of former commercial RORO vessels that make up another class T-AKR LMSR vessels that provide the United States Military with large, per-positioned, storage and transoprt for military vehicles, armor, helicopters, etc. These are slightly larger than the Shughart class, but smaller than the Bob Hope or Watson classes, displacing in in excess of 59,000 tons each, for the two vessels that make up the class. They are also older vessels, built in the early 1970s.

Specifications said:

Builder: Barclay Curle (builder) Newport News Shipbuilding (Conversion)
Displacement: 59,803 tons full load
Length: 954 ft (291.0 m)
Beam: 105.6 ft (32 m)
Draft: 35.9 ft (10.4 m) maximum
Propulsion: 1 x Burmeister & Wain 12K84EF diesel 26,000 hp(m) (19.11 MW), and
2 x Burmeister & Wain 9K84EF diesels, 39,000 hp(m) (28.66 MW), 3 shafts (center cp prop) bow thruster
Crew: 28 civilian crew (up to 45); 30 Active duty (up to 50)
Load: 284,064 sq. ft. cargo space
Aviation Facilities: Helicopter landing Space

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The two vessels in class include (with the dates they were laid down, launched, and commissioned):
, (ex-Jutlandia) May 1972, June 1973, May 1996
, (ex-Selandia) April 1971, May 1972, May 1996

T-AKR LMSR VESSELS

These ships are huge..When I was stationed on Diego Garcia they rotated in and out of there. Not often but they did.

bd popeye said:

These ships are huge..When I was stationed on Diego Garcia they rotated in and out of there. Not often but they did.

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They are a big part of the pre-positioning plans the US Navy and military has. Diego Garcia is a great place to place them so that ARGs and other groups can get to them...or make it easy for those vessels to get to the ARGs and other groups in the area as needed.

With the "Basing from the Sea" initiatives, we are just going to see more of it.

My favourite military sea lift ship is the Algol Class true monster that is!

btw does anyone know if China has such ships? i know they have dual purpose roll on and roll off ships which can be used by the Chinese military when needed but does PLAN have any dedicated sole purpose roll on and roll off ships?

infact how many such ships does China have overall?

asif iqbal said:

My favourite military sea lift ship is the Algol Class true monster that is!

btw does anyone know if China has such ships? i know they have dual purpose roll on and roll off ships which can be used by the Chinese military when needed but does PLAN have any dedicated sole purpose roll on and roll off ships?

infact how many such ships does China have overall?

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None, which will pose problems for any large scale expeditionary operations, as the Chinese will not be able to sustain any long term attack after the initial attack.. The US Sea Lift Command's RORO ships are designed for heavy lift, and their decks and vehicle bays are designed to take the weight of heavy vehicles regularly.

asif iqbal said:

My favourite military sea lift ship is the Algol Class true monster that is!

btw does anyone know if China has such ships? i know they have dual purpose roll on and roll off ships which can be used by the Chinese military when needed but does PLAN have any dedicated sole purpose roll on and roll off ships?

infact how many such ships does China have overall?

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I believe China had at least one of such ship, not sure how close was it when compared to the US counterpart, which I believe are much bigger.

rhino123 said:

I believe China had at least one of such ship, not sure how close was it when compared to the US counterpart, which I believe are much bigger.

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It's a step ahead but like you state..she's not very big. 578 feet and 91 feet wide? Similar in lenght and girth to an Arleigh Burke DDG. I think someone padded the displacement by quite a bit..36,000 tons.. that be metric tons I guess. Hummm that's 39,000 + tons displacement!!!..I say no way.

asif iqbal said:

My favourite military sea lift ship is the Algol Class true monster that is!

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Yes, these are T-AKR class vessels as well, but designated as FSS, for Fast Sealift Ship. There are eight of these monsters as well, weighing in at 55,000 tons plus each, somewhat smaller than the LRMS vessels from above. The 15 Watson and Bob Hope Class LRMS both displace over 62,000 tons each.


These are meant to keep up with carrier groups if necessary capable of 33+knots. Also capable of getting places quicker...so you have the FSS trabveling directly to trouble areas, while the LMSR vessels are either pre-positioned or get there later if necessary.

rhino123 said:

I believe China had at least one of such ship, not sure how close was it when compared to the US counterpart, which I believe are much bigger.

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Yeah this is the kind of ship I had on mind, but as bdpopeye said something does not sound right about the parameters, its shorter than Type 071 LPD yet claims to weight almost double? I think it’s probably a typo, instead of 36,000 tons it’s more like 16,000 tons

I think China needs more of USN sea lift command style ships if it really wants to have true sea lift capability, not only that, it will also require a medium/lift helicopter to provide transport at sea

But these ships don’t come cheap and would need a very heavy escort, imagine one was sunk by an enemy submarine the materials you would lose would be unimaginable and would have serious effects on the troops being resupplied

asif iqbal said:

Yeah this is the kind of ship I had on mind, but as bdpopeye said something does not sound right about the parameters, its shorter than Type 071 LPD yet claims to weight almost double? I think it’s probably a typo, instead of 36,000 tons it’s more like 16,000 tons

I think China needs more of USN sea lift command style ships if it really wants to have true sea lift capability, not only that, it will also require a medium/lift helicopter to provide transport at sea

But these ships don’t come cheap and would need a very heavy escort, imagine one was sunk by an enemy submarine the materials you would lose would be unimaginable and would have serious effects on the troops being resupplied

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PLAN actually has about 4 or 5 of these guys now, but it's still in the early stages of training and learning to utilize them. They are also obvious not as large and don't seem to be as versatile as their American counterparts.

For USN, what do these ships do during peace time?