Mars class combat stores ship

USS Mars (AFS-1), lead ship of the class
Class overview
Builders:	National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Operators:	United States Navy
Succeeded by:	Lewis and Clark class dry cargo ship
Completed:	7
Active:	3
Retired:	4
General characteristics
Class and type:	Mars class combat stores ship
Displacement:	9,200 long tons (9,348 t) light 15,900–18,663 long tons (16,155–18,962 t) full load
Length:	581 ft (177.1 m)
Beam:	79 ft (24.1 m)
Draft:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Propulsion:	• 3 × Babcock and Wilcox boilers, 580 psi (3.7 MPa); 8250 °F (4400 °C) • 1 × De Laval turbine • 22,000 shp (16.4 MW) sustained • 1 shaft
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement:	26 Navy personnel, 118 civilians
Armament:	• 4 × 3"/50 caliber guns (2×2) (originally 6) • Chaff Launchers • 4 × M240G 7.62×51 mm medium machine guns or M249 5.56×45 mm light MG • 1 M2 12.7×99 mm heavy machine gun when security detachment is embarked
Aircraft carried:	2 × MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters

The Mars-class combat stores ships are a class of seven auxiliary vessels of the United States Navy. They are designed for underway replenishment, in support of carrier task force groups, carrying miscellaneous stores and munitions. Initially they carried no fuel oil or liquid cargo, but by the early 1990s the class was refitted with limited refuel capacities for F-76 Fuel. Only three of the original seven ships originally commissioned by the US Navy remain in service. This class is being replaced by Lewis and Clark class dry cargo ship.

Cargo capacity is approximately 7,000 tons in five holds, with hangar space for two UH-46 helicopters.

Brief history

These ships were constructed in mid-1960s, while early units commissioned in the late 1960s served in the Vietnam War. The vessels supported combat operations off the coast, were known to have shot down Vietnamese aircraft defending themselves.

These ships continued to support naval units during their time in service in US Navy until the mid-1990s. These ships were present and supported operations in Red Sea and the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

By the mid-1990s, five of the seven ships were transferred to the Military Sealift Command.

Ships

The ships of the class are named for American resort and significant historical towns/cities.

• Mars (AFS-1) - decommissioned 1998; sunk as a SINKEX target off Hawaii, 2006
• Sylvania (AFS-2) - decommissioned, 26 May 1994; James River,VA USN Reserve Fleet,scrapped 2001.
• Niagara Falls (AFS-3) - transferred to Military Sealift Command, September 1994,served with Military Sealift Command until 1998, now sitting in Pearl Harbor,Hawaii, inactivated,waiting to be sunk as part of a SINKEX exercise.
• White Plains (AFS-4) - decommissioned, 1995; inactivated 2002,sunk as SINKEX target in RIMPAC exercise,
• USS Concord (AFS-5) - transferred to Military Sealift Command, 15 October 1992,served with Military Sealift Command until 1998, inactivated in 2008, sitting in Pearl Harbor,Hawaii,waiting to be sunk as part of a SINKEX exercise.
• San Diego (AFS-6) - transferred to Military Sealift Command, 1993; scrapped, 2006
• San Jose (AFS-7) - transferred to Military Sealift Command, 1993; inactivated January 2010,now sitting at Pearl Harbor,Hawaii waiting to be sunk as part of SINKEX exercise.

Photos

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  USNS Niagara Falls (T-AFS-3)

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  USNS Concord (T-AFS-5)

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  USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7)