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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

MV American Cormorant (AK-2062)

Heavy Lift Semi-submersible Prepositioning Ship [HLPS]. A Float on/Float off Cargo Ship:

Laid down in 1975 as the oil tanker MV Kollbris in Sweden

Launched, date unknown

Delivered, date unknown, to Odd-Berg, Norway for service as a tanker

Converted in 1982 in Sweden to a semi-submersible, heavy-lift carrier, renamed MV Ferncarrier

Purchased by Cormorant Shipholding in 1985 and re-flagged as US and renamed MV American Cormorant

Chartered by the Military Sealift Command (MSC), 21 October 1997, operated on time charter for the US Army by Osprey-Acomarit Ship Management of Bethesda, MD.

MV American Cormorant (AK-2062) was assigned to Marine Prepositioning Squadron Two and was forward deployed at Diego Garcia

Charter completed in 2002 and not renewed, returned to commercial service

Re-chartered as needed

Specifications:
Displacement 17,942 t.(lt) 70,692 t.(fl)
Length 738'
Beam 175' 4"
Draft 34' (max)
Speed 16 kts.
Cargo Capacity barges containing the materiel-handling equipment needed to move containers and equipment ashore. Additionally, three tug boats, two LCM 8s, a ROWPU barge, and a floating 100-ton crane barge are embarked aboard the HLPS
Full Operating Complement approximately 20 Civilian Mariners
Propulsion diesel, single propeller

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
Merchant Service
9813206210	192k	Norwegian flagged tanker MV Kollbris underway, date and location unknown.	Gerhard Muller-Debus
9813206211	152k	Norwegian flagged semi-submersible, heavy-lift carrier MV Ferncarrier at anchor, date and location unknown.	Gerhard Muller-Debus
MSC Charter
0913206201	424k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062) underway in 1991 en route to the Persian Gulf. Note the two BD-89T** cranes on-board, only one of which was used in operations. US Army BD-89T barge, Algiers (BD-6072), was deployed to be used by the Army 10th Transportation Battalion (Terminal) during the Gulf War. Photo from Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm: The Logistics Perspective (Association of the United States Army Institute of Land Warfare, 1991), p.12. Courtesy of the AUSA website.	Tommy Trampp
	101k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062)** at anchor, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.	Global Security web site
	59k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062)** at anchor, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.	Global Security web site
	52k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062)** at anchor, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.	Global Security web site
	44k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062)** at anchor and partly submerged while off-loading/loading boats and barges, 10 June 1999, location unknown. US Navy photo.	Global Security web site
	68k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062) loads US Army watercraft at Southampton, United Kingdom, 30 November 2004. - US Army watercraft are floated onto the submerged cargo deck of American CormorantAmerican Cormorant** is a heavy-lift, float-on/float-off vessel contracted by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) to move U.S. Army watercraft assigned to Field Support Battalion-Hythe to forward deployed locations. The ship is capable of submerging itself fifteen feet below the waterline to allow watercraft to float on and off its deck. The ship loaded more than 4,190 tons of cargo, floating on a U.S. Army "port-opening package," which included three small shore tug boats, four small landing craft, one crane barge, one fuel barge and two large landing craft. US Navy photo # 041130-N-0000B-002 by Edward Baxter.	Navy NewsStand
	65k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062)** submerged fifteen feet below the waterline to allow US Army watercraft to "float on" in the port of Southampton, United Kingdom, 30 November 2004. US Navy photo # 041130-N-0000B-001 by Edward Baxter.	Navy NewsStand
	51k	*MV American Cormorant* (AK-2062)** moored pierside, date and location unknown.	Derick S. Hartshorn

There is no DANFS history available for MV American Cormorant (AK-2062) at NavSource

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 3 July 2020