SS Petersburg (T-AOT-9101)

SS Petersburg (T-AOT-9101) is one of Military Sealift Command's two US Government-owned tankers and is part of the 35 ships in the Prepositioning Program. It is part of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Three. Its normal crew complement is 38 civilians and no military personnel. SS Petersburg is part of the RRF, but is currently activated for duty with the Prepositioning Program. She is currently berthed at the docks in Alameda, California. Previously she had been serving ten years at the island of Guam. In June 2006, the ship participated in exercise Valiant Shield. While not open to the public for tours, she is on the same pier as USS Hornet and can be photographed by passersby.

Originally built in 1963, the Petersburg is one in a fleet of five tankers fitted with an offshore petroleum discharge system. She can carry up to 225,000 barrels of JP8 fuel.

Offshore Petroleum Discharge System (OPDS) provides a semipermanent, all-weather facility for bulk transfer of refined bulk petroleum (e.g., JP5 and JP8) directly from an offshore tanker to a beach termination unit (BTU) located immediately inland from the high-water mark. POL then is either transported inland or stored in the beach support area. Major OPDS components are: the OPDS tanker with booster pumps and spread mooring winches, a recoverable single-anchor leg mooring (SALM) to accommodate four tankers up to 70,000 DWT, ship to SALM hose lines, up to four miles of six-inch (internal diameter conduit for pumping to the beach, and two BTUs to interface with the shoreside systems.

Three of the tankers (SS Petersburg, SS Chesapeake, and SS Mount Washington) contain a crane and stowage cradles for five OPDS utility boats (OUBs) (modified LCM-6s). OUB-equipped tankers carry adequate SLWT outfitting to equip one SLWT as a towtug and one SLWT as a lay repair boat carry one complete tanker terminal, and are equipped with five OUBs to deploy it. These tankers also have a maximum 59 LT capacity crane to load/offload the five OUBs carried on board.