Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

ARS-51 / T-ARS-51 Grasp

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Delta - Quebec NADQ

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (4)
Bottom Row - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (4) - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

Safeguard Class Rescue and Salvage Ship:

Laid down, 20 March 1983, at Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, WI.

Launched, 21 May 1984

Commissioned USS Grasp (ARS-51), 14 December 1985

Decommissioned, 19 January 2006, at NAB Little Creek, VA.

Placed in service with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Grasp (T-ARS-51), 19 January 2006

Specifications:
Displacement 2,633 t.(lt) 3,282 t.(fl)
Length 255'
Beam 51'
Draft 17' (max.)
Speed 14 kts.
Complement 6 Officers, 94 Enlisted
Armamenttwo MK-38 25mm chain guns, two .50 cal machine guns
Propulsion four Caterpillar 399 diesel engines, two shafts, 4,200hp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By /Source
USS Grasp (ARS-51)
	54k	Grasp (ARS-51) underway, date and place unknown. US Navy photo.	USS Grasp (ARS-51) web site
	71k	Grasp (ARS-51) underway, 16 October 1985. US Navy photo # 851016-N-00000-001	USS Grasp (ARS-51) web site
	55k	Grasp (ARS-51) anchored over the crash site of TWA Flight 800 offshore of Moriches Inlet, Long Island, N.Y., she it conducts diving operations, 25 July 25, 1996. Navy divers conducted dives to recover victims of the crash and parts of the airplane to aid in the investigation. US DOD photo # 960725-N-6676W-026 by AN Charles L. Withrow.	Bill Gonyo
	107k	Grasp (ARS-51) anchored over the crash site of TWA Flight 800 offshore of Moriches Inlet, Long Island, N.Y., she it conducts diving operations, 25 July 25, 1996. DOD photo	Bill Gonyo
	30k	Grasp (ARS-51) moored pierside, date and place unknown. US Navy photo.	USS Grasp (ARS-51) web site
	70k	Grasp (ARS-51) moored pierside at Barcelona, Spain, 1 January 1992	Photo by Ignacio Lopez ex member Armada Espanola
	97k	Grasp (ARS-51) underway, date and place unknown. US Navy photo.	.
	47k	Grasp (ARS-51) moored at Naples, Italy, in June 1996.	Wendell McLaughlin
	96k	Grasp (ARS-51) gets underway, 18 July 1999, as her mooring lines are cast off by sailors assigned to the *Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek* port operations. *Grasp* assisted in search and recovery efforts for a private plane flown by John F. Kennedy Jr. and carrying his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette. The aircraft crashed July 17 off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Mass US Navy photo # 990718-N-6967M-006 by PH2 Shane T. McCoy.	Bill Gonyo
	66k	Grasp (ARS-51) pulls into the Taranto Naval Base Mar Grande to participate in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) submarine escape and rescue exercise Sorbet Royal 2005, 17 June 2005. Grasp transported the Atmospheric Diving System 2000 (ADS 2000), Submarine Rescue Chamber Eight (SRC 8) along with members of the U.S. Navy's deep submergence unit. Twenty-seven participating nations, including 14 NATO nations will test their capabilities and interoperability. Four submarines with up to 52 crewmembers aboard will be placed on the bottom of the ocean, while rescue forces with rescue vehicles and systems work together to solve complex disaster rescue problems. US Navy photo # 050617-N-1464F-001 by JOC Dave Fliesen.	Navy Newsstand
USNS Grasp (T-ARS-51)
	55k	Grasp (T-ARS-51) tows Ex-Des Moines (CA-134) up the Brownsville ship channel enroute to the ESCO scrapping yard, at Brownsville, TX., circa 2006. Photo ©Michael Martin, Brownsville, TX., 2006.	TJ Tropea with permission of Michael Martin
	872k	Grasp (T-ARS-51) tows Ex-Des Moines (CA-134) up the Brownsville ship channel enroute to the ESCO scrapping yard, at Brownsville, TX., circa 2006. US Navy photo from the Military Sealift Command collection.	Bill Gonyo