USNS American Explorer
American Explorer | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Builder | Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MS |
| Laid down | 9 July 1957 |
| Launched | 11 April 1958 |
| Completed | 27 October 1959 |
| Homeport | Beaumont, Texas |
| Identification | IMO number: 7737171 |
| Nickname(s) | Hull# 469 |
| Fate | Scrapped |
| Class overview | |
| Preceded by | Maumee class |
| Succeeded by | Sealift Pacific class |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Type T5-S-RM2a Tanker |
| Tonnage | 14,980 GT |
| Length | 595 ft (181 m) |
| Beam | 80 ft (24 m) |
| Draft | 36.1 ft (11.0 m) |
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement | 47 |
USNS American Explorer (T-AOT-165) was a tanker built for the United States Military Sea Transport Service. The tanker was built by Ingalls SB of Mississippi in 1958, and at the time her keel was laid, the vessel was intended to be the world's first nuclear-powered tanker, but was completed with a conventional steam power plant. The ship was transferred to the US Maritime Administration in 1984 and was part of the US Reserve Fleet, Beaumont Reserve Fleet, Texas. American Explorer was sold for scrap on 8 July 2008 to the Southern Scrap Metal Corporation in New Orleans, Louisiana. On 13 August, two weeks before Hurricane Gustav struck the Southeastern Louisiana coastline, the tanker was moved to New Orleans' Industrial Canal.