SS ''Equality State'' (T-ACS-8) was a

crane ship A crane vessel, crane ship or floating crane is a ship with a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads. The largest crane vessels are used for offshore construction. Conventional monohulls are used, but the largest crane vessels are often catam ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. The ship was named for the state of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, which is also known as the ''Equality State''. She was scrapped in June 2019.

History

''Equality State'' was laid down on 6 July 1960, as the break-bulk freighter SS ''Washington Mail'', ON 287238, IMO 5386605, a Maritime Administration type (C4-S-1s) hull under MARAD contract (MA 86). Built by

Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division was a shipyard in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. Before applying its last corporate name, the shipyard had been called Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company and Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles ...

, San Pedro, California, hull no. 77, she was launched on 11 May 1961, and delivered to MARAD 2 January 1962, entering service for American Mail Lines, a subsidiary of

American President Lines APL, formerly called American President Lines Ltd., is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including 9 U.S. flagged container vessels. In 1938, ...

. In 1971 she was lengthened and converted to a type (C6-S-1s) hull

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

by Bethlehem Steel, San Francisco, CA. On 26 November 1975 the ship was renamed SS ''President Roosevelt'', after AML was merged into APL. She was sold to Delta Steamship Lines 7 September 1983, and renamed SS ''Santa Rosa''. She was again sold to United States Lines in 1985 when USL absorbed Delta Line, and renamed SS ''American Builder''. After the collapse of US Lines in 1986, the ship was returned to MARAD 6 April 1987 and laid up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

(NDRF) at Hampton Roads, VA. In 1989 she was converted to a type (C6-S1aq) Crane Ship by Tampa Shipyards, Tampa, Florida. Completed on 24 May 1989, she was assigned to the

Ready Reserve Force The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

(RRF), under operation control of the

Military Sealift Command Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US m ...

(MSC) and placed in service as SS ''Equality State'' (ACS-8). ''Equality State'' was berthed at Houston, TX. and assigned to Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Three and was maintained in a four-day readiness status. Removed from MSC control, withdrawn from the RRF by reassignment to the National Defense Reserve Fleet (Beaumont, TX), 28 July 2006. She was designated for disposal in August 2016.

References

Notes

Online

SS Equality State (ACS-8)
*

External links

National Defense Reserve Fleet Inventory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Equality State Ships built in Los Angeles 1961 ships Keystone State-class crane ships