USNS Grasp
Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USNS Grasp (T-ARS-51) is a Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship, the second United States Navy ship of that name.
USNS Grasp towing the ex-USS Des Moines for scrapping. | |
History | |
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United States | |
Name | USNS Grasp |
Builder | Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay |
Laid down | 30 March 1983 |
Launched | 2 May 1985 |
Commissioned | 16 December 1985 |
Decommissioned | 19 January 2006 |
Homeport | Naval Base San Diego |
Identification |
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Motto | "Any Ocean Any Time" |
Fate | Transferred to the Military Sealift Command |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship |
Displacement | 3,282 long tons (3,335 t) full |
Length | 255 ft (78 m) o/a |
Beam | 50 ft (15 m) |
Draft | 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Complement | 30 US Navy (Military Sealift Command) Civilian Mariners. |
Armament |
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Grasp was laid down on 30 March 1983 by Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; launched on 2 May 1985; and commissioned on 14 December 1985 as USS Grasp (ARS-51).[1][2]
Grasp is the second ship of the newest auxiliary rescue and salvage class of vessels constructed for the US Navy. The rugged construction of this steel-hulled vessel, combined with her speed and endurance, make Grasp well-suited for rescue and salvage operations throughout the world. The hull below the waterline is ice-strengthened.
Grasp sister ships are USS Safeguard (ARS-50), USS Salvor (ARS-52), and USS Grapple (ARS-53).
On 19 January 2006 USS Grasp was decommissioned and transferred to the Military Sealift Command for non-commissioned service as USNS Grasp (T-ARS-51).[2][3]
On 20 July 1999, it was the Grasp that finally located the fuselage of the plane flown by John F. Kennedy Jr. Following the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010, the Grasp was staffed with a team of structural engineers from the US Army Corps of Engineers and dispatched on 16 January 2010 to the country's devastated seaport in Port-au-Prince as part of Operation Unified Response to assess for and complete emergency structural repairs so that large military and civilian cargo vessels may unload their rescue aid shipments more efficiently.[4]