Emory S. Land-class submarine tender

The Emory S. Land-class submarine tender is a class of three submarine tenders in the United States Navy and Military Sealift Command. USS Emory S. Land is the lead ship in the class, the others are USS Frank Cable and USS McKee. McKee was the first ship in the class to be decommissioned.^[1] The Emory S. Land class is set to be replaced by two ships of the AS(X) class.^[2]

Emory S. Land class

Emory S. Land and Frank Cable at Guam, in 2017
Class overview
Builders	Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	L. Y. Spear-class
Built	1976–1979
In commission	1979–present
Completed	3
Active	2
Laid up	1
General characteristics
Type	Submarine tender
Tonnage	9,000 LT DWT
Displacement	13,800 long tons (14,021 t) light 23,000 long tons (23,369 t) full load
Length	649 ft (198 m)
Beam	85 ft (26 m)
Draft	26–29 ft (7.9–8.8 m)
Propulsion	2 × boilers Steam turbine 1 shaft 20,000 shp (14,914 kW)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	1,350
Armament	2 × 40 mm AA guns 4 × 20 mm AA guns

Design

The Emory S. Land-class is identical to the preceding L. Y. Spear-class. The ships were specifically designed to service nuclear-powered attack submarines. They feature 53 specialized workshops on 13 decks on board.^[3] Four submarines can be serviced simultaneously.^[4] The ships are equipped with two 40 ton bow anchors and one 20 ton stern anchor, two 60 ton cranes and two 7 ton cranes. All ships have a helicopter landing pad aft, although no hangar.

Ships in class

Italics indicate estimated dates

Ship	Hull no.	Crest	Builder	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate
Emory S. Land	AS-39		Lockheed Shipbuilding & Construction Co.	7 July 1979	2029[2]	Active[5]
Frank Cable	AS-40			29 October 1979	2030[2]	Active[6]
McKee	AS-41			15 August 1981	16 July 1999	[1]Stricken, to be disposed of

References

1. "Naval Vessel Register - MCKEE (AS 41)". Naval Vessel Register. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
2. Ong, Peter (5 December 2022). "US Navy Comments on New AS(X) Submarine Tenders". Naval News. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
3. "AS-39 L.Y. Spear - Navy Ships". man.fas.org. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
4. "AS-39 Emory S. Land". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
5. "Naval Vessel Register - Emory S. Land (AS-39".
6. "Naval Vessel Register - Frank Cable (AS-40)".