In a message dated 4/24/2002 1:46:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
dlnews_sender(a)dtic.mil writes:
NAVY TO CHRISTEN SEALIFT SHIP SODERMAN
The Department of the Navy will christen USNS Soderman (T-AKR
317), its newest roll-on and roll-off strategic sealift ship on
Friday, April 26, 2002, during an 8:30 p.m. PDT ceremony at
National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO), San Diego.
The ship will be named for Medal of Honor recipient Pfc.
William A. Soderman (1912-1980), a native of West Haven, Conn.
Soderman was assigned to Company K, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry
Division during World War II. On Dec. 17, 1944, Soderman
defended a key road junction near Rocherath, Belgium, against
superior enemy forces before being wounded. President Harry S
Truman presented Soderman the Medal of Honor during a ceremony
at the White House on Oct. 12, 1945.
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham will deliver the ceremony's
principal address. Serving as ship's sponsor is Virginia
Soderman, widow of the ship's namesake. Kristina Carson
Fletcher, niece of the ship's namesake, will serve as matron of
honor. In the time-honored Navy tradition, the sponsor will
break a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally name the
ship.
Soderman is the eighth ship built by NASSCO for the Strategic
Sealift program. Soderman, a large, medium-speed,
roll-on/roll-off ship, will carry Army equipment, vehicles and
supplies, and be strategically prepositioned near Diego Garcia
in the Indian Ocean. The non-combatant vessel will be crewed by
civilian mariners and operated by the Navy's Military Sealift
Command, Washington, D.C.
Soderman's roll-on and roll-off design makes her ideal for
transporting helicopters, tanks and other wheeled and tracked
military vehicles. Soderman will have a cargo carrying capacity
exceeding 394,000 square feet. The ship is 950 feet in length,
has a beam of 106 feet, and displaces approximately 63,000 tons
when fully loaded. Two 32,000 horsepower gas turbine engines
enable the ship to sustain speeds up to 24 knots.
For more information on large, medium-speed, roll-on and
roll-off ships, visit
www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/ships/ship-takr2.html .
Jeffery G. Scism, IBSSG, (
http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com)
~~
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