USNS Andrew J. Higgins (T-AO-190)

USNS Andrew J. Higgins (T-AO-190)
USNS Andrew J. Higgins (T-AO-190) sometime during her 1987-1996 period of active service
Career (USA)
Name:	USNS Andrew J. Higgins
Namesake:	Andrew Higgins (1886-1952), an American shipbuilder
Ordered:	22 November 1983
Builder:	Avondale Shipyard, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana
Laid down:	21 November 1985
Launched:	17 January 1987
In service:	22 October 1987
Out of service:	6 May 1996
Struck:	6 January 2009
Fate:	Sold to Chile 19 May 2009
Notes:	Commissioned in Chilean Navy as Almirante Montt 10 February 2010
Career (Chile)
Name:	Almirante Montt
Operator:	Chilean Navy
Acquired:	19 May 2009
Commissioned:	10 February 2010
General characteristics
Class & type:	Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler
Type:	Fleet replenishment oiler
Tonnage:	31,200 deadweight tons
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 (11.9 MW) per shaft 34,442 hp (25.7 MW) 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 barrels (29,000 m3) of fuel oil and jet fuel 7,400 square feet 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: none Wartime: probably 2 x 20-mm Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft carried:	None
Aviation facilities:	Helicopter landing platform
Notes:	Five refueling stations Two dry cargo transfer rigs

USNS Andrew J. Higgins (T-AO-190) was a Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler of the United States Navy which saw active service from 1987 to 1996. Sold to Chile in 2009, she was commissioned as Almirante Montt in the Chilean Navy in 2010.

Construction and delivery

Andrew J. Higgins, the fourth ship of the Henry J. Kaiser class, was laid down at Avondale Shipyard, Inc., at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 21 November 1985 and launched on 17 January 1987. She entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under Military Sealift Command control with a primarily civilian crew on 22 October 1987. She was named for Andrew Higgins, the man credited with developing the LCVP or "Higgins Boat" landing craft of World War II.

United States Navy service

Inactivation

Andrew J. Higgins was taken out of active service on 6 May 1996 and placed in reserve in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay at Benicia, California, where she remained until September 2009. She was the first ship of her class to be taken out of service.

Transfer to Chile

In 2008, Andrew J. Higgins was selected for transfer to Chile as a Foreign Assistance Act grant. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 6 January 2009 and sold to Chile on 19 May 2009. She was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay on 24 September 2009 and towed to the Atlantic Marine Alabama shipyard at Mobile, Alabama, to undergo a three-month refit and overhaul.

Chilean Navy service

Renamed Almirante Montt, the oiler was commissioned in the Chilean Navy on 10 February 2010, replacing the oiler Araucano (AO-53).

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.
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive: T-AO-190 Andrew J. Higgins
• USNS Andrew J. Higgins (T-AO 190)
• Sealift, U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command: Chilean navy embarks on MSC oiler
• 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 2009-04-28.