USNS Benjamin Isherwood

USNS Benjamin Isherwood (T-AO-191) was a Henry J. Kaiser class fleet replenishment oiler of the United States Navy. She was never completed.

This article is about the U.S. Navy oiler. For the Navy engineer and rear admiral, see Benjamin F. Isherwood. For two U.S. Navy destroyers named USS Isherwood, see USS Isherwood.

USNS Benjamin Isherwood
USNS Benjamin Isherwood (T-AO-191)
USNS Benjamin Isherwood (T-AO-191), left, being prepared for long-term storage at the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Norfolk, Virginia on 26 August 1994. The guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60) is at right.
History
United States
NamesakeBenjamin F. Isherwood (1822–1915), an early U.S. Navy engineer and rear admiral
Awarded6 May 1985
BuilderPennsylvania Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Tampa Shipbuilding Company, Tampa, Florida
Laid down12 July 1986
Launched15 August 1988a at Pennsylvania Shipbuilding; christened 7 December 1991 at Tampa Shipbuilding
In serviceNever
Stricken29 December 1997
IdentificationIMO number: 8508876
FateScrapped, 2011
NotesConstruction contract cancelled 15 August 1993 when ship 95.3% complete
General characteristics
Class and typeHenry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler
TypeFleet replenishment oiler
Tonnage31,200 deadweight tons
Displacement
  • 9,500 tons light
  • Full load variously reported as 42,382 tons and as 40,700 long tons (41,353 metric tons)
Length677 ft (206 m)
Beam97 ft 5 in (29.69 m)
Draft35 ft (11 m) maximum
Installed power
  • 16,000 hp (11.9 MW) per shaft
  • 34,442 hp (25.7 MW) sustained total
PropulsionTwo medium-speed Colt-Pielstick PC4-2/2 10V-570 diesel engines, two shafts, controllable-pitch propellers
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Capacity
Complement103 (18 civilian officers, 1 U.S. Navy officer, 64 merchant seamen, 20 U.S. Navy enlisted personnel)
Armament
Aircraft carriedNone
Aviation facilitiesHelicopter landing platform
Notes
  • Five refueling stations
  • Two dry cargo transfer rigs

Construction

Benjamin Isherwood, the fifth Henry J. Kaiser-class ship, was laid down by the Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 12 July 1986. Her construction encountered numerous problems. Although she was launched on 15 August 1988,a her construction contract with Pennsylvania Shipbuilding was cancelled on 31 August 1989. Along with her unfinished sister ship USNS Henry Eckford (T-AO-192), the incomplete Benjamin Isherwood was towed to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia on 27 October 1989 for lay-up.

A new contract to complete Benjamin Isherwood was awarded on 16 November 1989 to the Tampa Shipbuilding Company of Tampa, Florida. She was towed from Philadelphia to Tampa. She was christened there on 7 December 1991. However, construction problems continued, and that contract also was cancelled, on 15 August 1993, when the ship was 95.3 percent complete. Cost overruns had run into the millions of U.S. dollars.

Reserve

The Navy decided that completion of Benjamin Isherwood as an oiler was no longer necessary, and considered converting her into an ammunition ship, but the conversion was found to be cost-prohibitive. Instead, the nearly complete Benjamin Isherwood was turned over to the Maritime Administration and towed up the James River in Virginia, where she was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet as part of the United States Navy's James River Reserve Fleet at Lee Hall, Virginia. She was struck from the Navy List on 29 December 1997, and her title was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 1 February 1999. She and Henry Eckford were the only units of the 18-ship Henry J. Kaiser class not completed.

Scrapping

On 12 July 2011, the Benjamin Isherwood departed for Brownsville, Texas, to be recycled by International Shipbreaking Limited.[1]

References
  1. marinelink.com Ex-USNS Vessels to Depart for Texas
Wikimedia Commons has media related to IMO 8508876.
  • Wildenberg, Thomas (1996). Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912–1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-934-4. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
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