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USNS Big Horn

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USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198)
History
United States
NameUSNS Big Horn
NamesakeThe Bighorn River in Wyoming and Montana
Ordered20 June 1988
BuilderAvondale Shipyard, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana
Laid down9 October 1989
Launched2 February 1991
In service21 May 1992-present
Identification
StatusIn active Military Sealift Command service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeHenry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler
TypeFleet replenishment oiler
Tonnage31,200 deadweight tons
Displacement
  • 9,500 tons light
  • Full load variously reported as 42,382 tons and 40,700 long tons (41,353 metric tons)
Length677 ft (206 m)
Beam97 ft 5 in (29.69 m)
Draft35 ft (11 m) maximum
Installed power
  • 16,000 hp (11.9 MW) per shaft
  • 34,442 hp (25.7 MW) total sustained
PropulsionTwo medium-speed Colt-Pielstick PC4-2/2 10V-570 diesel engines, two shafts, controllable-pitch propellers
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Capacity
Complement103 (18 civilian officers, 1 U.S. Navy officer, 64 merchant seamen, 20 U.S. Navy enlisted personnel)
Armament
  • Peacetime: usually none
  • Wartime: probably 2 x 20-mm Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft carriedNone
Aviation facilitiesHelicopter landing platform
Notes
  • Five refueling stations
  • Two dry cargo transfer rigs

USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198) is a Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler of the United States Navy.

Big Horn, the twelfth ship of the Henry J. Kaiser class, was laid down at Avondale Shipyard, Inc., at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 9 October 1989 and launched on 2 February 1991. She entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under the control of the Military Sealift Command with a primarily civilian crew on 21 May 1992. She serves in the United States Atlantic Fleet.

This ship was one of several participating in disaster relief after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The Big Horn brought relief supplies to Haiti. During Operation Unified Response, Big Horn transferred 618 pallets of cargo and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief supplies and over 2,000,000 gallons of fuel. USNS Big Horn got underway from Naval Station Norfolk the day after the earthquake struck, arrived on scene in Haiti on January 17 and worked until being relieved by USNS Leroy Grumman on 11 February.[1] In 2015, she refueled RFA Gold Rover in the South Atlantic.[2]

In September of 2024, she ran aground off Oman while with attached to USS Abraham Lincoln's strike group. The incident strained American logistics within the fleet amid rising tensions due to Israeli attacks on Lebanon as she was the only oiler in the region. She was quickly brought into a local port, and no casualties or oil spills were reported; images showing flooding were released.[3][4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ http://www.msc.navy.mil/msfsc/news.asp?show=1268332794&edition=032010/ [dead link]
  2. ^ "RFA Gold Rover's globe trotting goes on". Royal Navy. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22.
  3. ^ "US Navy replenishment ship operating in Mideast was damaged in an incident, officials say". AP News. 2024-09-24. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  4. ^ Lagrone, Sam (25 September 2024). "Oiler USNS Big Horn Now in Port in Oman as Congress Raises Questions Over Logistics Fleet". USNI News. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
Replenishing HMS Montrose in 2021
[edit]
  • NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive: USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO-195)
  • USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198)
  • 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.