SS ''Gem State'' (T-ACS-2) is a crane ship in

Ready Reserve The Ready Reserve is a U.S. Department of Defense program which maintains a pool of trained service members that may be recalled to active duty should the need arise. It is composed of service members that are contracted to serve in the Ready Rese ...

for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. The ship was named for the state of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, which is also known as the ''Gem State''.

History

''Gem State'' was laid down on 30 May 1965, as a combination breakbulk-container ship, SS ''President Monroe'', ON 501712, IMO 6520911, a

Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issue ...

type (C6-S-1qa) hull, under MARAD contract (MA 165). Built by

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, commonly referred to as NASSCO, is an American shipbuilding company with three shipyards located in San Diego, Norfolk and Mayport. It is a division of General Dynamics. The San Diego shipyard specializes ...

, San Diego, CA, hull no. 340, she was launched on 10 February 1965 and delivered to MARAD on 25 April 1966, for service with

American President Lines APL, formerly called American President Lines Ltd., is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including 9 U.S. flagged container vessels. In 1938, ...

. She was converted to a MARAD type (C6-S-1qc)

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

, in 1973, and continued to be operated by APL until delivered to the Maritime Administration in 1982 for lay up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

(NDRF). In 1984–1985 she was converted to a type (C6-S-MA1qd) Crane Ship by Continental Marine, San Francisco, CA. She was placed in service as SS ''Gem State'' (ACS-2) 7 May 1984, assigned to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) Ready Reserve Force, (RRF).Polmar 2005 p. 308 ''Gem State'' is one of 10 Crane Ships in the Surge Force and is berthed at

Ready Reserve Fleet Alameda docked in former Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Alameda Pacific Reserve Fleet, Alameda was a part of the United States Navy reserve fleets, also called a ''mothball fleet'', that was used to store the many surplus ships after World War II. The Pacific ...

, assigned to Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Three and is maintained in a five-day readiness status (ROS 5).

References

Notes

Bibliography

Online

SS Gem State (T-ACS-3)
*

External links

Military Sealift Command Ship Inventory
{{Keystone State class crane ship Ships built in San Diego 1965 ships Keystone State-class crane ships