At the end of October, United States Navy Ship (USNS) ROBERT F. KENNEDY (T-AO 208) was christened and launched at General Dynamics - National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (GD-NASSCO) in San Diego, California.
Honour
USNS "Robert F. Kennedy" is the first naval auxiliary to bear his name in honour of the deceased US veteran. Robert Francis ("Bobby") Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1944 to 1946, was Attorney General of the United States from 1961 to 1964 and served as Senator for New York in the House from 1965 until his violent death in 1968. His eldest daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (1951) became the patron of the ship.
He was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President (1961 - 1963) of the United States, who in 2019 once again became the namesake for the second GERALD R. FORD-class aircraft carrier (CVN 79).
"John Lewis" class
In June 2016, the US Navy awarded a contract worth USD 3.2 billion (EUR 3 billion) to GD-NASSCO for the development and construction of the first nine ships. The ships are based on commercial design standards and will replace the current but aging HENRY J. KAISER-class (T-AO 187) single-hull tankers. The first ship of the class, USNS John Lewis (T-AO 205), was delivered in July 2022, USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO 206) in July 2023. The ships T-AO 207-210 are under construction at GD-NASSCO and the ships T-AO 211-213 are already under contract.
The fleet tankers are operated by the Navy's Military Sealift Command. As part of the Combat Logistics Force, they ensure the supply of the US Navy and are therefore essentially available to the aircraft carriers and their Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) as well as the units of allied navies.
Ship data
USNS "Robert F. Kennedy", Photo: MSC-Pacific/S.Cannon
USNS "Robert F. Kennedy" is the fourth of a total of twenty planned units of the "John Lewis" class.
The double-hulled tanker with a length of 227 metres and a fully loaded displacement of around 49,850 tonnes costs around 700 million dollars.
The crew consists of 99 civilian seamen. Each unit has additional capacity to accommodate self-defence personnel and special forces.
Commissioning has not yet been scheduled, but is expected to take place within the next two years.
Video of the launch: Instagram kerrykennedyrfk
Source: U.S. DoD, Stars and Stripes, The San Diego Union-Tribune
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