The SS Chesapeake is a transport oiler that was in service with the United States Navy from 2000 to 2009. She was operated by Military Sealift Command.

SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084)
SS Chesapeake (AOT-584)
History
United States
NameSS Chesapeake
NamesakeChesapeake Bay
BuilderBethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard
Launched18 August 1964
Completed29 October 1964
Acquired15 December 1987 (by Maritime Administration
In service2000 with Military Sealift Command
Out of service3 February 2009
RenamedSS Chesapeake 22 July 1980 (used to be SS Hess Voyager)
Stricken30 November 2020
Identification
FateScrapped 2021
Notes
  • Served as commercial tanker SS Hess Voyager 1964–1980 and SS Chesapeake 1980–1987
  • Laid up in Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Fleet 1987–2000
General characteristics
TypeTransport oiler
Displacement
  • 14,977 tons (light)
  • 48,993 tons (full load)
Length736 ft (224 m)
Beam102 ft (31 m)
Draft39 ft (12 m) maximum
Installed power15,000 horsepower (11.2 megawatts)
PropulsionTwo Combustion Engineering boilers, two Bethlehem turbines, one shaft
Speed14 knots)
Capacity257,000 barrels (40,900 m3) of fuel oil
Complement37
ArmamentNone
NotesThe ship's integral offshore petroleum discharge system (OPDS) allows her to discharge her entire cargo from up to 4 nautical miles (7.4 kilometers) off shore

Construction and commercial service 1964–1987

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SS Chesapeake was built by the Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard at Baltimore, Maryland, and delivered to the Hess Shipping Company on 29 October 1964. She entered commercial service with the company as the tanker SS Hess Voyager. She was renamed SS Chesapeake on 22 July 1980. She is a near exact twin to her sister ship SS Petersburg.

Ready Reserve Force 1987–2000

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The U.S. Maritime Administration relieved Hess Shipping of Chesapeake under an exchange program on 15 December 1987. Chesapeake was then laid up in the Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Fleet until 2000.

Military Sealift Command Service 2000–2009

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Chesapeake was activated for service in the Military Sealift Command in 2000 as a transport oiler. Interocean Ugland Management Corporation of Voorhees, New Jersey, operates her with a civilian crew under contract to Military Sealift Command as a Common User Tanker as SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084).

Other OPDS tankers are the SS American Osprey, SS Petersburg, and the SS Mount Washington. Chesapeake was removed from service in 2009 and was scrapped on 19 April 2021 at Brownsville.

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References

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