USNS Watkins
USNS Watkins (T-AKR-315) is one of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 33 ships in the Prepositioning Program. She is a Watson-class vehicle cargo ship.
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Ordered | 23 May 1997 |
Builder | National Steel and Shipbuilding Company |
Laid down | 24 August 1999 |
Launched | 28 July 2000 |
In service | 2 March 2001 |
Identification |
|
Status | in service |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Watson-class vehicle cargo ship |
Displacement | 29,000 tons |
Length | 950 ft |
Beam | 106 ft |
Draft | 34 ft |
Propulsion | Gas turbine |
She was named for Master Sergeant Travis E. Watkins, a Medal of Honor recipient.
Laid down on 24 August 1999 and launched on 28 July 2000, Watkins was put into service in the Pacific Ocean on 2 March 2001.
According to The Guardian the human rights group Reprieve identified the Watkins and sixteen other USN vessels as having held "ghost prisoners" in clandestine extrajudicial detention.[1]
References
- Duncan Campbell, Richard Norton-Taylor (2 June 2008). "Prison ships, torture claims, and missing detainees". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-06-01. mirror
- 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.
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