SS ''Keystone State'' (T-ACS-1) is a crane ship in

ready reserve The Ready Reserve is a U.S. Department of Defense program which maintains a pool of trained service members that may be recalled to active duty should the need arise. It is composed of service members that are contracted to serve in the Ready Rese ...

for 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

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, which is also known as the ''Keystone State''.

History

''Keystone State'' was laid down on 23 January 1965, as the combination breakbulk-container ship SS ''President Harrison'', ON 502569, IMO 6605022, a

Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issue ...

type (C4-S-1qa) hull, under MARAD contract (MA 166). Built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, CA, hull no. 339, she was launched 10 February 1965, and delivered to MARAD on 25 April 1966, for service with

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, ...

. She was converted to a MARAD type (C6-S-1qc)

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 intermoda ...

, 16 February 1973, and continued to be operated by APL until delivered to the Maritime Administration, 19 July 1982, for lay 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), Suisun Bay, Benicia, CA, and was later transferred to NDRF James River, Lee Hall, VA., 11 September 1982. In 1983-1984 the ship was converted to a type (C6-S-MA1qd) Crane Ship at Bay Shipbuilding,

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Sturgeon Bay is a city in and the county seat of Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,646 at the 2020 Census. The city is well-known regionally for being the largest city of the Door Peninsula, after which the county is n ...

. She was placed in service as SS ''Keystone State'' (ACS-1) 7 May 1984, and assigned to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) Ready Reserve Force (RRF). The ship is one of 10 Crane Ships in the Military Sealift Command Surge Force and is berthed at Alameda, CA.; assigned to Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Three, she is maintained in a five-day readiness status (ROS 5) at the

Ready Reserve Fleet Alameda docked in former Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Alameda Pacific Reserve Fleet, Alameda was a part of the United States Navy reserve fleets, also called a ''mothball fleet'', that was used to store the many surplus ships after World War II. The Pacific ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

Online

SS Keystone State (ACS-1)

External links

MARAD Ship History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keystone State Ships built in San Diego 1965 ships Keystone State-class crane ships