SS Chesapeake

For other ships with the same name, see USS Chesapeake.

The SS Chesapeake is a transport oiler that was in service with the United States Navy from 2000 to 2009. She was operated by Military Sealift Command.

SS Chesapeake (AOT-584)
History
United States
Name	SS Chesapeake
Namesake	Chesapeake Bay
Builder	Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard
Launched	18 August 1964
Completed	29 October 1964
Acquired	15 December 1987 (by Maritime Administration
In service	2000 with Military Sealift Command
Out of service	3 February 2009
Renamed	SS Chesapeake 22 July 1980 (used to be SS Hess Voyager)
Stricken	30 November 2020
Identification	IMO number: 6420056 MMSI number: 368839000 Callsign: KNFE
Fate	Scrapped 2021
Notes	Served as commercial tanker SS Hess Voyager 1964–1980 and SS Chesapeake 1980–1987 Laid up in Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Fleet 1987–2000
General characteristics
Type	Transport oiler
Displacement	14,977 tons (light) 48,993 tons (full load)
Length	736 ft (224 m)
Beam	102 ft (31 m)
Draft	39 ft (12 m) maximum
Installed power	15,000 horsepower (11.2 megawatts)
Propulsion	Two Combustion Engineering boilers, two Bethlehem turbines, one shaft
Speed	14 knots)
Capacity	257,000 barrels (40,900 m3) of fuel oil
Complement	37
Armament	None
Notes	The ship's integral offshore petroleum discharge system (OPDS) allows her to discharge her entire cargo from up to 4 nautical miles (7.4 kilometers) off shore

Construction and commercial service 1964–1987

SS Chesapeake was built by the Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard at Baltimore, Maryland, and delivered to the Hess Shipping Company on 29 October 1964. She entered commercial service with the company as the tanker SS Hess Voyager. She was renamed SS Chesapeake on 22 July 1980. She is a near exact twin to her sister ship SS Petersburg.

Ready Reserve Force 1987–2000

The U.S. Maritime Administration relieved Hess Shipping of Chesapeake under an exchange program on 15 December 1987. Chesapeake was then laid up in the Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Fleet until 2000.

Military Sealift Command Service 2000–2009

Chesapeake was activated for service in the Military Sealift Command in 2000 as a transport oiler. Interocean Ugland Management Corporation of Voorhees, New Jersey, operates her with a civilian crew under contract to Military Sealift Command as a Common User Tanker as SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084).

Other OPDS tankers are the SS American Osprey, SS Petersburg, and the SS Mount Washington. Chesapeake was removed from service in 2009 and was scrapped on 19 April 2021 at Brownsville.

Gallery

• 
  SS Chesapeake, (T-AOT-5084), Chesapeake amidships view of SALM
• 
  SS Chesapeake, (T-AOT-5084), Chesapeake deck view of SALM
• 
  SS Chesapeake, (T-AOT-5084), Chesapeake deploying SALM

References

• FM 10-67-1 CONCEPTS AND EQUIPMENT OF PETROLEUM OPERATIONS
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive: SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084)
•  This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. TX-117, "Chesapeake, Beaumont Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, Jefferson County, TX", 6 photos, 4 data pages, 1 photo caption page