USNS ''GySgt Fred W. Stockham'' (T-AK-3017) is a ''Shughart''-class

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

roll-on roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

support vessel in 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 ...

Military Sealift Command Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US ...

(MSC). The vessel is the second Navy ship named after

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

Gunnery Sergeant

Fred W. Stockham Fred William Stockham (March 16, 1881 in Detroit – June 22, 1918 in France) was a United States Marine who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his self-sacrificial valor during the Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I. Early life and ...

(1881–1918), who was posthumously awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The ship was originally built as MV ''Lica Maersk'', at the

Lindovaerftet Odense Steel Shipyard ( da, Odense Staalskibsværft) was a Danish shipyard company located in Odense. It was best known for building container ships for its parent group, A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, including the Mærsk E class in 2006 wh ...

shipyard, in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 2 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

, and delivered for commercial service with the

Maersk Line Maersk Line or Maersk SeaLand is a Danish international container shipping company and the largest operating subsidiary of the Maersk Group, a Danish business conglomerate. Founded in 1928, it is the world's largest container shipping company b ...

circa 1980. She was acquired by the U.S. Navy on 11 November 1997, and converted for MSC service as a Large, Medium Speed, Roll-On/Roll-Off (LMSR) sealift ship at

National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. 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 ...

(NASSCO), in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. The ship was renamed USNS ''Soderman'' (T-AKR-299) — the first Navy ship named after PFC

William A. Soderman William Adolph Soderman (March 20, 1912 – October 20, 1980) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War ...

(1912–1980), who was awarded the

for heroism during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

. ''Soderman'' was placed in service in 1998, operated by Bay Ship Management Inc. under the direction of the MSC. She was placed out of service in 2000 for conversion to an enhanced prepositioning ship. The ship was placed back in service as USNS ''GySgt Fred W. Stockham'' (T-AK-3017) on 1 March 2001. Her new namesake, Gunnery Sergeant Fred W. Stockham, USMC, was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for heroism at the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918. ''GySgt Fred W. Stockham'' is one of the Military Sealift Command's seventeen container & roll-on/roll-off ships, and one of the 36 ships in the Prepositioning Program. ''Stockham'' is assigned to Maritime Prepositioning Program Squadron Two which operates out of

Diego Garcia Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, a disputed overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of the 60 small islands ...

. On May 31, 2008 ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' reported that the human rights group Reprieve named the ''Stockham'' as one of up to sixteen US Naval vessels that may have been used to covertly hold captives.

References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:GySgt. Fred W. Stockham (T-AK-3017) Shughart-class cargo ships Ships built in Odense 1981 ships Auxiliary transport ship classes