Ordered 23 May 1997 In service 2 March 2001 Beam 106 ft Launched 28 July 2000 Weight 29,470 tons Draft 10 m | Laid down 24 August 1999 Status in service Construction started 24 August 1999 Length 290 m Displacement 26.31 million kg | |
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Class and type Watson-class vehicle cargo ship Builder National Steel and Shipbuilding Company | ||
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.
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.
References
USNS Watkins (T-AKR-315) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA