The USNS ''Sea Lift'' (T-LSV-9) was a roll on/roll off (Ro/Ro) cargo ship built 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 ...

's Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), currently the Military Sealift Command (MSC). She became the first ship of Ro/Ro-type to deliver cargo to Vietnam during the war in Indochina.

Construction

She was laid down as SS ''Sea Lift'', a Maritime Administration type ( C4-ST-67a) hull under Maritime Administration contract (MA hull 124), on 18 May 1964 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

. It was an improved and enlarged prototype of the

USNS Comet (T-AK-269) USNS ''Comet'' (T-AK-269), later T-LSV-7, later T-AKR-7, later SS ''Comet'', is a vehicle landing ship built for the United States Navy. The lone ship of her class, she is named for the comet, and is the fourth U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name ...

. She was launched on 17 April 1965 and sponsored by Mrs. Warren G. Magnuson. Completed on 25 April 1967; delivered to the Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service and placed in service as USNS ''Sea Lift'' (T-LSV-9), a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship, on 19 May 1967 with Captain Robert C. Lindquist, Master. She was manned by a civil service crew.

Service

''Sea Lift'' completed her maiden voyage, Oakland to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

in July 1967, then commenced runs to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

with cargo consigned to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Since then, ''Sea Lift'', redesignated as vehicle cargo ship ''AKR-9'' on 14 August 1969, continued her primary mission, the transportation of military vehicles, for the Military Sealift Command in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. Was named USNS ''Meteor'' (T-AKR-9) 12 September 1975 to join the ''galactic family'' of other ro/ro ships,

, USNS Mercury (T-AKR-10) and USNS Jupiter (T-AKR-11). She was assigned to the Rapid Deployment Force in April, 1980. Reassigned to the MARAD Ready Reserve Force (RRF) 30 October 1985 and berthed at

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

, ''Meteor'' lost her USNS destination and became was one of 31 roll-on / roll-off cargo ships and one of the 55 ships in the RRF in the Sealift Office Program. Later, ''Meteor'' was laid up at a "layberth" at

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in 10-day fully ready status (ROS-10). In August 1990, while berthed in San Pedro, Los Angeles she was activated to take part in the

Gulf War 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, ...

and shuttled between the US East Coast via the Mediterranean to Saudi Arabia until the end of the hostilities. She was deactivated in 1991 and underwent repairs at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. shipyard. In October 1993, she was again activated for Fuertes Caminos, a nation assistance exercise in Guatemala; later, she took part in exercises off South Korea. In 2003, she served in the Operation Iraqi Freedom. On 28 July 2006, she was removed from MSC and withdrawn from the RRF by reassignment to the National Defense Reserve Fleet. She was laid up at the

Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet is located on the northwest side of Suisun Bay (the northern portion of the greater San Francisco Bay estuary) in Benicia, California. The fleet is within a regulated navigation area that is about long and wide. It ...

near

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

References

;Attribution

External links

SS Meteor

Image:Meteor T-AKR-9.jpg, USNS ''Meteor'' (T-AKR-9) underway, date and place unknown Image:T-LSV-9 Meteor.jpg, USNS ''Meteor'' (T-AKR-9) underway, date and place unknown {{DEFAULTSORT:Sea Lift Vehicle landing ships of the United States Navy Ships built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company 1965 ships