Awarded 11 January 2005 In service 4 March 2009 Construction started 2 November 2007 | Laid down 2 November 2007 Status in active service Launched 18 September 2008 | |
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Motto Audentes Fortuna Iuvat
("Fortune Favors the Bold") Class and type Lewis and Clark-class cargo ship Builder National Steel and Shipbuilding Company | ||
USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE-7) is a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate Carl Brashear (1931–2006), the first African-American to become a US Navy Master Diver, despite having lost a leg in the 1966 Palomares incident.
The contract to build Carl Brashear was awarded to General Dynamics's subsidiary National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) of San Diego, California, on January 11, 2005. Her keel was laid down on November 2, 2007. The completed ship was delivered to the Navy on March 4, 2009.
During Operation Tomodachi, Carl Brashear loaded more than 800 pallets of humanitarian cargo at Sasebo's Juliet pier on March 20 and set sail later that day to join the Navy ships operating off northern Japan. Brashear completed 17 underway replenishment missions, delivering more than 1 million gallons (3,800 m³) of fuel to ships supporting Tomodachi.
