USNS ''Charles Drew'' (T-AKE-10) is a ''Lewis and Clark''-class

dry cargo ship A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...

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 ...

, named in honor of Dr. Charles R. Drew (1904–1950), who developed improved techniques for

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

storage, and applied his expert knowledge in developing large-scale

blood bank A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laborat ...

s early in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, saving thousands of

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

lives. The contract to build ''Charles Drew'' was awarded to

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, commonly referred to as NASSCO, is an American shipbuilding company with three shipyards located in San Diego, Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk and Mayport (Jacksonville), Mayport. It is a division of General Dy ...

(NASSCO) of

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, on 31 January 2008. Her keel was laid down on 17 March 2009. ''Charles Drew'' was christened and launched on 27 February 2010, sponsored by Mrs. Bebe Drew Price, the eldest daughter of Dr. Drew. The principal address at the ceremony was given by Vice Admiral

Regina Benjamin Regina Marcia Benjamin (born October 26, 1956) is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. Benjamin previously directed a n ...

, the

Surgeon General of the United States The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. Th ...

. ''Charles Drew'' was delivered to Military Sealift Command on 14 July 2010 and began conducting missions for MSC in spring 2011 and will operate in the Pacific.

References

External links

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* https://www.nassco.com/pdfs/T-AKE-10_Program.pdf Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships Ships built in San Diego 2010 ships {{US-mil-ship-stub