SS ''Grand Canyon State'' (T-ACS-3) 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

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, which is also known as the ''Grand Canyon State''.

History

''Grand Canyon State'' was laid down on 20 March 1964, as the combination breakbulk-container ship SS ''President Polk'', ON 500484, IMO 6510899, 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 (C4-S-1aq) hull under MARAD contract (MA 164). Built by

National Steel and Shipbuilding 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. 338, she was launched on 23 January 1965, and delivered to MARAD on 4 November 1965, 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 1985-1987 she was converted to a type (C6-S-MA1qd) Crane Ship by Dillingham Corporation, San Francisco, CA. She was placed in service as SS ''Grand Canyon State'' (ACS-3) 27 October 1987, assigned to the Military Sealift Command (MSC)

Ready Reserve Force 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 ...

, (RRF).Polmar 2005 p. 308 The ''Grand Canyon State'' was assigned to the Maritime Propositioning Squadron Three and maintained a 5-day readiness status (ROS-5) 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 ...

. In 2020 she was reassigned to the

Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet is located on the northwest side of Suisun Bay (the northern portion of the greater San Francisco Bay estuary) in Benicia, California. The fleet is within a regulated navigation area that is about long and wide. It ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

Online

SS Grand Canyon State (ACS-3)
*

External links

Military Sealift Command Ship Inventory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Canyon State Ships built in San Diego 1965 ships Keystone State-class crane ships