MV Virginian
MV Virginian (T-AK 9205), formerly named the MV Strong Virginian (T-AKR-9205), is a combination container, heavy lift, and roll-on/roll-off ship.<ref name="msc">Military Sealift Command, 2008, MV VIRGINIAN (T-AK 9205).</ref><ref name="sli">Sealift Incorporated 2008, MV Virginian.</ref> Owned and operated by Sealift Incorporated of Oyster Bay, New York, the ship is one of seventeen containerTemplate:Em dashroll-on/roll-off ships in use by the Military Sealift Command, and one of 28 ships assigned to that organization's Sealift Program Office.<ref name="msc"/> The ship was previously known as the MV Saint Magnus and the MV Jolly Indaco.<ref name="usn06"/>
Cargo equipmentEdit
The ship had one large cargo hold with a tween deck that could be set at three different heights.<ref name="sli"/> It had a single 800-ton derrick for heavy-lift use.<ref name="sli"/> In addition it had a single traveling gantry crane fitted with dual portal cranes, both of which were rated at Template:Convert independently, and could be operated together for lifts up to Template:Convert.<ref name="sli"/> For roll-on/roll-off (roro) cargo, the ship had two trailer elevators and roro ramps.<ref name="sli"/>
HistoryEdit
Built as Saint Magnus at Bremer Vulkan, Bremen, Germany in 1984, Virginian spent her first years in the commercial shipping service.<ref name="brig">Brigham 2002, The many lives of MV Virginian.</ref><ref name="navsource">Priolo 2004.</ref> Ironically, the ship that would later be known for carrying military supplies to the Middle East was accidentally hit by an Exocet missile while off-loading commercial cargo in Iraq in 1986.<ref name="brig"/> In these early years, the ship was also renamed Jolly Indaco.<ref name="navsource"/>
MSC first chartered the ship, then known as MV Strong Virginian, in 1992.<ref name="brig"/> For the next five years, a 500-bed fleet hospital was prepositioned aboard the ship as she carried out a variety of missions for the Department of Defense.<ref name="brig"/> Some of its jobs during this time included delivering equipment and supplies to Africa as part of Operation Restore Hope, transporting a bio-safety lab from Inchon, Korea, to Jakarta, Indonesia, and ferrying harbor tugs used by the U.S. Navy from Diego Garcia to Guam and back.<ref name="brig"/>
On March 14, 1997, the United States Department of Defense announced a new charter for the Strong Virginian.<ref name="cont97"/> This contract, number N00033-97-C-3007, was a $23,592,099 time charter contract from the Military Sealift Command to operator Van Ommeren Shipping (USA), Inc., of Stamford, Connecticut.<ref name="cont97">U.S. Department of Defense, 1997, Contracts.</ref> Under the contract, the Strong Virginian was to be used in the prepositioning of United States Army cargo in the Indian Ocean at the island of Diego Garcia.<ref name="cont97"/> The contract included options which could have brought the cumulative value up to US$47,992,099 and was to expire by March 1999.<ref name="cont97"/> This contract was competitively procured with 250 proposals solicited and four offers received.<ref name="cont97"/>
Virginian was chartered again in 1998 and, for the next four years, the ship was used to support the U.S. Army.<ref name="brig"/> Virginian delivered combat craft, tugboats and barges and other elements of the Army's port opening packages.<ref name="brig"/> These packages are used to give the military access to rarely used ports in areas vital to U.S. military operations.<ref name="brig"/> On September 30, 2002, the ship was released from MSC service and returned to its owner.<ref name="usn06"/>
Sealift Incorporated bought the ship from Van Ommeren Shipping USA, Inc. taking delivery on June 10, 2003.<ref name="amo">American Maritime Officers, 2003.</ref> At that point, Sealift renamed the ship the Virginian.<ref name="amo"/> Between November 2002 and May 2006, the Virginian completed 21 missions for the U.S. military, delivering almost Template:Convert, or nearly 30 football fields, of cargo.<ref name="brig"/>
On October 16, 2007, the United States Department of Defense announced that it awarded contract N00033-08-C-5500 to Sealift Incorporated. This was a $10,614,000 firm-fixed-price contract plus reimbursables for the Virginian.<ref name="cont">U.S. Department of Defense, 2007, Contracts.</ref> The ship was contracted to carry containers laden with ammunition to support the global war on terrorism and the United States Central Command.<ref name="cont"/> The contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $39,814,000.<ref name="cont"/> If options are exercised, work may continue through October 2011.<ref name="cont"/> This contract was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities and the Military Sealift Command websites, with more than 200 proposals solicited and three offers received.<ref name="cont"/> The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command is the contracting authority.<ref name="cont"/>
The ship was sold for scrap in August 2012 in Singapore and was recycled in Bangladesh that same month.
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
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External linksEdit
- MSC saves $20 million on ship charter contract
- Military sealift command ships - Owner's & Operator's/Manual 2002
- American and British Forces Team Together to Support Exercise Strong Virginian
- USTRANSCOM Publishes Handbook on Defense Transportation System
- T-AKR 9025 Strong Virginian
- Strong Virginian Docks at A&P Southampton
- Department of the Army Historical Summary Fiscal Year 1999