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T-AFS 8 Sirius Combat Stores Ship

These ships formerly were Royal Navy replenishment ships [ex-British Lyness Class], acquired by the Navy because of the increased logistics demands necessitated by maintaining two carrier battle groups in the Indian Ocean during the Iranian hostage crisis. Built in England in 1965 and 1966, they were extensively modernized with improved communications and underway-replacement facilities. USNS Sirius (T-AFS 8) was transferred from the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary to MSC on Jan. 18, 1981; USNS Spica (T-AFS 9) on Nov. 5, 1981; and USNS Saturn (T-AFS 10) on Dec. 13, 1983. They are part of the Navy Combat Logistics Force, and conduct underway and vertical replenishment in support of operating forces by simultaneously providing refrigerated stores, dry provisions, technical and aviation spares, general stores, fleet freight, mail, personnel and other items from five stations and utilizing two H-46 helicopters assigned per ship.

Specifications

Displacement Light Displacement: 10205 tons
Full Displacement: 16680 tons
Dead Weight: 6475 tons
Length Overall Length: 523 ft
Waterline Length: 498 ft
Beam Extreme Beam: 72 ft
Waterline Beam: 72 ft
Draft Maximum Navigational Draft: 26 ft
Draft Limit: 26 ft
Speed 18 knots
Power Plant One diesel, 11,520 brake horsepower
Aircraft Two UH -46 Sea Knight helicopters
Armament None
Complement 123 civilian, 47 Navy
Builder Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend-On-Tyne

Ships

Name Number Builder Homeport Ordered Commissioned Decommissioned
Sirius T-AFS 8Swan Norfolk04 Apr 196518 Jan 1981
Spica T-AFS 9Swan 01 Apr 196522 Nov 1981
Saturn T-AFS 10Swan Norfolk01 Oct 196501 Dec 1983

Sources and Resources


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http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/tafs-8.htm
Maintained by Robert Sherman
Originally created by John Pike
Updated Saturday, March 06, 1999 1:48:08 PM