USNS Big Horn

For other ships of the same name, see USS Big Horn.

USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198)
Career (United States)
Name:	Big Horn
Namesake:	The Bighorn River in Wyoming and Montana
Ordered:	20 June 1988
Builder:	Avondale Shipyard, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana
Laid down:	9 October 1989
Launched:	2 February 1991
In service:	21 May 1992
Identification:	IMO number: 8812162 Maritime Mobile Service Identity number: 368889000 Callsign: NBIG
Status:	In active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class & type:	Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler
Tonnage:	31,200 DWT
Displacement:	9,500 tons light Full load variously reported as 42,382 tons and 40,700 long tons (41,353 metric tons)
Length:	677 ft (206 m)
Beam:	97 ft 5 in (29.69 m)
Draft:	35 ft (11 m) maximum
Installed power:	16,000 hp (12,000 kW) per shaft 34,442 hp (25,683 kW) total sustained
Propulsion:	Two medium-speed Colt-Pielstick PC4-2/2 10V-570 diesel engines, two shafts, controllable-pitch propellers
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Capacity:	178,000 to 180,000 bbl (28,300 to 28,600 m3) of fuel oil and jet fuel 7,400 sq ft (690 m2) dry cargo space; eight 20-foot (6.1 m) refrigerated containers with room for 128 pallets
Complement:	103 (18 civilian officers, 1 U.S. Navy officer, 64 merchant seamen, 20 U.S. Navy enlisted personnel)
Armament:	Peacetime: usually none Wartime: probably 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
Aviation facilities:	Helicopter landing platform
Notes:	Five refueling stations Two dry cargo transfer rigs

USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198) is a Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler of the United States Navy. Big Horn was laid down on 9 October 1989 and launched on 2 February 1991. The ship entered service with Military Sealift Command on 21 May 1992 as part of the United States Atlantic Fleet.

Construction and career

Big Horn, the twelfth ship of the Henry J. Kaiser class, was laid down at Avondale Shipyard, Inc., at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 9 October 1989 and launched on 2 February 1991. She entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under the control of the Military Sealift Command with a primarily civilian crew on 21 May 1992. She serves in the United States Atlantic Fleet.

This ship was one of several participating in disaster relief after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Big Horn brought relief supplies to Haiti. During Operation Unified Response, Big Horn transferred 618 pallets of cargo and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief supplies and over 2,000,000 US gal (7,600,000 L) of fuel. Big Horn got underway from Naval Station Norfolk the day after the earthquake struck, arrived on scene in Haiti on 17 January and worked until being relieved by USNS Leroy Grumman on 11 February. In 2015, she refueled RFA Gold Rover in the South Atlantic.

Replenishing HMS Montrose in 2021

In September 2024, she ran aground off Oman while with attached to USS Abraham Lincoln's strike group. The incident strained American logistics within the fleet amid rising tensions due to Israeli–Hezbollah conflict as she was the only oiler in the region. She was quickly brought into a local port, and no casualties or oil spills were reported; images showing flooding were released.

Awards

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

References

• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of {{{2}}} at NavSource Naval History
• USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198)
• Wildenberg, Thomas (1996). Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/GSBO/index.html. Retrieved 28 April 2009. Template:US-mil-ship-stub