The ''Mars''-class combat stores ships were a class of seven

auxiliary vessel An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxil ...

s 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 ships were designed for

underway replenishment Replenishment at sea (RAS) (North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Commonwealth of Nations) or underway replenishment (UNREP) (U.S. Navy) is a method of transferring fuel, munitions, and stores from one ship to another while under way. First develope ...

, in support of carrier task force groups, carrying miscellaneous stores and munitions. Initially they carried no

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

or liquid cargo, but by the early 1990s the class was refitted with limited refuel capacities for F-76 fuel. None of the original seven ships originally commissioned by the US Navy remain in service. The ''Mars'' class was replaced by the s. Cargo capacity of the each ship was approximately 7,000 tons in five

holds A hold (abbreviated HLD, H or HD) is awarded to a relief pitcher who meets the following three conditions: :1. Enters the game in a save (baseball), save situation; that is, when all of the following three conditions apply: :: (a) He appears i ...

, with

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

space for two UH-46 helicopters.

Brief history

Mars class combat stores ship line drawing 1981

Vessels in the class were constructed in mid-1960s, while early units commissioned in the late 1960s served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. The vessels supported combat operations off the coast. These ships continued to support naval units during their time in service in US Navy until the mid-1990s. ''Mars''-class ships were present and supported operations in

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

during

Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

. By the mid-1990s, five of the seven ships were transferred to 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 ...

Ships

The ships of the class are named for American resort and significant historical towns/cities. * - decommissioned 1998; sunk as a

SINKEX A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammuniti ...

target off

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, 2006 * - decommissioned, 26 May 1994;

James River, Virginia The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

, National Defense Reserve Fleet,

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

2012. * - transferred to Military Sealift Command, September 1994, served with Military Sealift Command until 1998, sunk as target 14 July 2012. * - decommissioned, 1995; inactivated 2002, sunk as SINKEX target in

RIMPAC RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held i ...

exercise, * - transferred to Military Sealift Command, 15 October 1992, served with Military Sealift Command until 1998, inactivated in 2008, sunk as part of a SINKEX exercise. * - transferred to Military Sealift Command, 1993; scrapped, 2006 * - transferred to Military Sealift Command, 1993; inactivated January 2010, scrapped 2012.

Photos

File:USNS_Niagara_Falls_(T-AFS-3).jpg, USNS ''Niagara Falls'' (T-AFS-3) File:USNS Concord T-AFS-5.jpg, USNS ''Concord'' (T-AFS-5) File:USNS San Jose T-AFS-7.jpg, USNS ''San Jose'' (T-AFS-7)

References

Mars class combat stores ship Mars class combat stores ship Mars class combat stores ship {{US-navy-stub