SecNav names next 4 T-AKEs

[unhappycamper]

SecNav names next 4 T-AKEs
Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Dec 3, 2008 13:29:25 EST

Navy Secretary Donald Winter on Tuesday announced the names of the next four Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships of the Military Sealift Command, which continue the class naming theme of explorers and pioneers.

The ships — which heretofore have been known only by their hull numbers, T-AKE 9 through 12 — are to be known as the Matthew Perry, Charles Drew, Washington Chambers and William McLean, according to an announcement from the Defense Department.

Perry was the Navy commodore who is credited with opening Japan to trade in 1853. Drew was a black surgeon who, in the 1940s, developed the method for separating blood and plasma credited with saving countless lives. Chambers was an early pioneer in naval aviation, according to the Defense Department announcement, who helped arrange the first launch of an airplane from a warship. McLean developed the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile at Naval Ordnance Test Station China Lake, Calif., after World War II.

The T-AKE-class cargo ships are 689 feet long and displace about 42,000 tons. Carrying crews of MSC civilian mariners, they re-supply Navy warships at sea with food and supplies. The final two planned T-AKEs have yet to be named.


Article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_take_names_120308w/%2e