USNS United States Naval Ship (USNS) is the prefix designation given to non- commissioned ships that are property of the United States Navy (USN). Definition United States Naval Ships are unarmed auxiliary support vessels owned by the U.S. Navy ...

''Lewis and Clark'' (T-AKE-1) is an American

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 ...

, the lead ship of her namesake class. It was the second ship 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 ...

to be named for the explorers Meriwether Lewis and

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

. The contract to build her 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 and Mayport. It is a division of General Dynamics. The San Diego shipyard specializes ...

(NASSCO) of

San Diego 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 State ...

, California, on 18 October 2001 and her keel was laid down on 22 April 2004. She was launched on 21 May 2005, co-sponsored by Jane Lewis Sale Henley and Lisa Clark, descendants of the ship's namesakes. She was delivered to the Navy on 20 June 2006.

Description

The T-AKE is a replenishment naval vessel operated by Military Sealift Command with civilian mariner crews (53 personnel) augmented by a military department (5 personnel). In 2012, ''Lewis and Clark'' became one of 14 ships that comprise the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

(USMC) Maritime Prepositioning Program (MPP). Replenishment ships help allow the Marine Corps maintain a forward presence. Her primary mission is the delivery of supplies to enable the arrival and assembly of a Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB). The T-AKE transfers cargo – ammunition, food, fuel, repair parts, ship store items and expendable supplies to Marine and joint forces ashore. The Navy awarded National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, Calif., a $406.9 million competitive contract 18 October 2001, to build the first ship of the class, USNS ''Lewis and Clark''. The Navy also exercised a $301.6 million option in the contract for the construction of the second ship of the class, . The U.S. Navy had previously fielded a ballistic missile submarine named .

Antipiracy

In February 2009, the ship was deployed off the coast of Somalia as part of

Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. The vessel was fitted out to be used as a

prison ship A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nat ...

for captured pirates. On 20 November 2010, the ''Lewis and Clark'' responded to a distress call by the Chinese-flagged cargo ship M/V ''Tai An Kou'' which was under attack by Somalian pirates. Upon sighting the US naval vessel, the pirates opened fire and the ''Lewis and Clark'' returned fire in a brief engagement that drove the pirates off without causing any casualties. The destroyer then also arrived on the scene 10 hours later and launched a helicopter to provide additional assistance until the

PLAN A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. ...

frigate ''Xuzhou'' arrived.

References

External links

msc.navy.mil: USNS ''Lewis and Clark''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1) Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships Bulk carriers of the United States Navy Prison ships 2005 ships