USNS Patuxent

USNS Patuxent (T-AO-201) is a Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler underway replenishment oiler operated by the Military Sealift Command to support ships of the United States Navy.

Patuxent, the fifteenth ship of the Henry J. Kaiser class, was laid down at Avondale Shipyard, Inc., at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 16 October 1991 and launched on 23 July 1994. She was the first of three ships in the class of eighteen—the other two being USNS Laramie (T-AO-203) and USNS Rappahannock (T-AO-204)—to be built with a double hull required by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Hull separation is 6 ft at the sides and 6 ft at the bottom, reducing her liquid cargo capacity by about 21000 oilbbl from that of the 15 single-hull ships in the class.

Patuxent entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under the control of the Military Sealift Command with a primarily civilian crew on 21 June 1995. She serves in the United States Atlantic Fleet.

Design
The Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oilers were preceded by the shorter Cimarron-class fleet replenishment oilers. Patuxent has an overall length of 206.5 m. It has a beam of 29.7 m and a draft of 11 m. The oiler has a displacement of 41353 t at full load. It has a capacity of 180000 impbbl of aviation fuel or fuel oil. It can carry a dry load of 690 m2 and can refrigerate 128 pallets of food. The ship is powered by two 10 PC4.2 V 570 Colt-Pielstick diesel engines that drive two shafts; this gives a power of 25.6 MW.

The Henry J. Kaiser-class oilers have maximum speeds of 20 kn. They were built without armaments but can be fitted with close-in weapon systems. The ship has a helicopter platform, but no maintenance facilities. It is fitted with five fueling stations; these can fill two ships at the same time and the ship is capable of pumping 900000 gal of diesel or 540000 gal of jet fuel per hour. It has a complement of eighty-nine civilians (nineteen officers), twenty-nine spare crew, and six United States Navy crew.