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USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5)


Dry Cargo / Ammunition Ship


United States | 2008



"It is ships like the USNS Peary that allow the USN to be all that it can be."

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one sea-going vessel design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5).
B&W diesel generators; 1 x Bow-mounted thruster; 1 x propeller.
Propulsion
20.0 kts
23.0 mph
Surface Speed
14,030 nm
16,146 miles | 25,984 km
Range
Structure
The bow-to-stern, port-to-starboard physical qualities of USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5).
135
Personnel
Complement
689.0 ft
210.01 meters
O/A Length
106.0 ft
32.31 meters
Beam
30.0 ft
9.14 meters
Draught
23,852
tons
Displacement
Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5).
2 to 6 x 12.7mm Browning M2 heavy machine guns
Air Arm
Available supported fixed-wing / rotary-wing aircraft featured in the design of USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5).
2 x VREP/Support Helicopters
Ships-in-Class (13)
Notable series variants as part of the USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5) family line as relating to the Lewis and Clark-class group.
USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1); USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE-2); USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3); USNS Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE-4); USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5); USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE-6); USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE-7); USNS Wally Schirra(T-AKE-8); USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE-9); USNS Charles Drew (T-AKE-10); USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE-11); USNS William McLean (T-AKE-12); UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Medgar Evers (T-AKE-13); ORDERED: USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14)
Authored By: JR Potts, AUS 173d AB | Last Edited: 04/09/2022 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

The Lewis and Clark-class of dry cargo/ammunition ship is the newest class of the Combat Logistics Force (CLF) for the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command - essentially a seagoing "general store" of sorts that sails the seas to keep the USN fed and fueled - ready to fight. The Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1) is the lead ship of the class and was deployed in 2006 with the 11th such ship commissioned during 2011 and pair of vessels currently being built (as of 2012) with a 14th on order. The T-AKE class was purposefully designed to replace the few remaining (and aging) Mars-, Sirius- and Sacramento-class combat stores ships as well as the Kilauea-class ammunition ships.

The T-AKE class is part of Military Sealift Command's (MSC) Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force (NFAF) and is crewed by approximately 124 civilians. The personnel are placed in charge of basic ship operations as well as management of the onboard helicopters while some 11 military personnel handle security and logistics of both the ship and cargo. She is listed as a "dry" cargo ship - a reference to the type of cargo being carried - but also delivers petroleum products along with ammunition, dry goods, frozen and fresh foods, ice cream, soda, ship and helicopter parts, and potable water to deployed naval forces around the world. The T-AKE currently has the largest cargo space capacity and flight deck of any combat logistics ship in the world.

As mentioned, the first eleven ships of the class have already been delivered to the USN and two additional ships are under construction with one under contract. USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5) is the fifth ship of the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship and is named for Arctic explorer, RAdm. Robert E. Peary. The Peary was built by the General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) of San Diego, California and, due to wildfires in California during the time of her construction, her official christening was delayed until February 9th, 2008.

The Peary is crewed by a civilian crew of 124 and a military contingent of 12. A military officer - generally a commander - is responsible for the military portion of the crew crew and seeing to the cargo and its loading processes onboard the ship. The commander and the combined crew typically have less than 24 hours to unload 360 tons of food, ammunition and spare parts from delivery trucks arriving at the dock. All types of food items and spare parts and ammunition ordered ships out to sea. Loading of fuel and water for the Peary and for the ships customers are loaded simultaneously to save time. Some of the ships 25 electric forklifts work along the dock, moving pallets of goods to awaiting cargo nets that are then lifted onto the deck of the ship. Forklifts then move the pallets marked by a color code to their correct storage locations aboard the vessel.

Peary has 14 dry cargo spaces and 3 large refrigeration and freezer compartments for a total of 783,000 cubic feet of space. The total cargo space on Peary will hold as much as 300 semi-trailer loads. She carries fuel tanks for her own use and for her customers - as much as 10,500 gallons of marine diesel fuel and 7,500 gallons of jet fuel for a total of 2,350 long tons. On the stern, a helicopter interior hanger for two aircraft is located plus a work area and an outdoor flight deck. Below these is the engine room. The main cargo deck is climate-controlled and it is as long as two American football fields combined. The passageways on this deck, one starboard and one port, can handle two forklifts side-by-side, moving cargo to and from assigned locations running the length of the ship.

The civilian crew and the Captain are assigned by and work for Military Sealift Command. The MSC ships crews are referred to as being "in service" rather than "in commission" as commonly categorized within the US Navy. The ships are wholly owned by the United States government proper and are assigned the prefix "USNS" - standing for United States Naval Ship. The civilian crew does all the work onboard, from driving the forklifts, running the engines, and cooking the meals to piloting the Peary itself.

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The Peary and her sister ships are, in essence, combinations of fleet service ships of the USN's past. In World War 2 and thereafter, the supplies that the USN fleet and her crews needed were transported by a number of different vessels such as dedicated ammunition ships, an oiler or tanker for fuel, a cargo ship for dry goods, canned food and spare parts. These ships would converge on a port or island and unload to warehouses to which then the combat ships would have to leave their station and steam to the port in order to be resupplied. Today, vessels such as Peary can hold and transport ammunition stores, fuel, transport helicopters, frozen, fresh and dry goods of all types. Now the USN fleet warship can stay on station and be resupplied without having to leave its post. Flexibility has proven to be the key to Peary's success - one day in port to resupply and six days at sea - only to do it all over again to in the upcoming weeks - a steady supply of critical and non-critical goods intended to support the fleet and keep the US mission abroad humming like a well-oiled machine.

The time and location the Peary will meet her customers is based entirely on the current need of the fleet. The military commander provides the MSC Captain with the course, latitude and longitude of the warship in question. However, when the two ships meet, they navigate to within 150 feet of each other on a parallel course and match their speed, maintaining their courses. A small line is shot over from the Peary and used to retract a heavy cable to which fueling hoses are wrenched between the two ships. When in place, the customer ship received both diesel and jet fuel pumped from the Peary at a rate of 200 gallons per minute. Additional cables carrying arresting gear holds two or more pallets of food or supplies and are moved from the Peary to the customer ship within seconds and then unloaded and returned for another repeat trip. When all the supplies have been transferred, the customer does a breakaway move which involves simply moving away from the Peary at full speed. This is done to reduce collision accidents that have occurred when large ships have been in close proximity to smaller ones. The second type of supply is using the onboard helicopter which carries pallets of product hung below in cargo nets. The aircraft hover above the customer ship, allowing the supplies to be removed, and this process is then repeated as many times as needed. The helicopters also transport injured seamen to an awaiting ship with a surgery onboard.

It is vessels like the Peary that make the USN one of the most powerful forces on the planet. Logistics are the heart of any military operation - greater so than any one man or weapon - and allow the modern military to fulfill its mission. Without logistically-minded ships in its inventory, the US Navy would find itself taken back to the days when its reach on the high seas was limited and its vessels needed to be recalled regularly for resupply.

The Peary operates under the motto of "King of the Team".

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Operators
Global operator(s) of the USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE-5). Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national naval warfare listing.
National flag of the United States

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