Name SS Chesapeake Completed 29 October 1964 | Namesake Chesapeake Bay Length 224 m | |
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Builder Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard Acquired 15 December 1987 (by Maritime Administration In service 2000 with Military Sealift Command | ||
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.
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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 resides in the Beaumont Reserve Fleet.