SS Gopher State

SS Gopher State (T-ACS-4) is a crane ship in ready reserve for the United States Navy. The ship was named for the state of Minnesota, which is also known as the Gopher State.

SS Gopher State (T-ACS-4)
History
United States
Name	Export Leader
Owner	United States Maritime Administration
Operator	(1973) American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines (1973-1978) American Export Lines (1978-1986) Farrell Lines
Ordered	20 October 1970
Builder	Bath Iron Works
Laid down	26 July 1971
Launched	8 July 1972
In service	22 January 1973
Out of service	1986 laid up
Homeport	Newport News, VA
Identification	IMO number: 7226689
Fate	Acquired by the United States Navy
United States
Name	Gopher State (T-ACS-4)
Namesake	Named in honor of the state of Minnesota.
Acquired	1986
In service	12 October 1987 to the present
Identification	IMO number: 7226689 MMSI number: 366575000 Callsign: WCJV
Notes	Five days needed to activate.
General characteristics
Class and type	Gopher State-class crane ship
Displacement	13900 tons (light) 31500 tons (full)
Length	668 ft 7 in
Beam	76 ft 1 in
Draft	33 ft 6 in
Propulsion	Steam turbines 2 boilers 1 shaft single propeller 17,500 shp
Speed	17 knots
Capacity	300 plus containers four 30 ton capacity cranes
Complement	9 civilian during Reduced Operating Status 32 civilian during Full Operating Status

Currently at anchor in Weymouth Bay, England receiving bunkers.

History

Gopher State was laid down on 26 July 1971, as the container ship Export Leader, ON 545126, IMO 7226689, a Maritime Administration type C5-S-73b hull under MARAD contract (MA 257). Built by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, hull no. 358, she was launched on 8 July 1972, and delivered to MARAD 22 January 1973, entering service for American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines (renamed American Export Lines in the same year). She was sold to Farrell Lines in 1978 without name change. The ship was returned to MARAD in 1986 and laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF). In 1987 she was converted to a type C5-S-MA73c crane ship by Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock, Norfolk, Virginia. Completed on 12 October 1987, she was placed in service as Gopher State (T-ACS-4) and assigned to the Ready Reserve Force (RRF), under operation control of the Military Sealift Command (MSC).^[1][2]

Gopher State in Boston's dry dock number 3 in December 2016

Gopher State is in ready reserve, laid up at Newport News, Virginia. As of December 2016, she is in Drydock No. 3 in Boston.

See also

• Operation Steel Box

References

Notes

1. Polmar 2005 p. 308
2. Silverstone 2011 p. 237

Bibliography

• Polmar, Norman (2005). The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Flee. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1591146852.
• Silverstone, Paul (2011). The Navy of the Nuclear Age, 1947-2007. Routledge. ISBN 978-1135864668.

Online

• U.S. Navy,
• U.S. Naval Register,
• United States Navy Fact File - Crane Ships

External links

• Global Security.org - T-ACS Keystone State Auxiliary Crane Ships
• Global Security.org - T-ACS Keystone State Auxiliary Crane Ships specifications
• Navsource.org
• National Defense Reserve Fleet Inventory