USNS Watkins

History
United States
Ordered	23 May 1997
Builder	National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Laid down	24 August 1999
Launched	28 July 2000
In service	2 March 2001
Identification	IMO number:  9232230 MMSI number: 338815000 Callsign: NIJB
Status	in service
General characteristics
Class & type	Watson-class vehicle cargo ship
Displacement	29,000 tons
Length	950 ft
Beam	106 ft
Draft	34 ft
Propulsion	Gas turbine

USNS Watkins (T-AKR-315) is one of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 33 ships in the Prepositioning Program. She is a Watson-class vehicle cargo ship.

She was named for Master Sergeant Travis E. Watkins, a Medal of Honor recipient.

Laid down on 24 August 1999 and launched on 28 July 2000, Watkins was put into service in the Pacific Ocean on 2 March 2001.

According to The Guardian the human rights group Reprieve identified the Watkins and sixteen other USN vessels as having held "ghost prisoners" in clandestine extrajudicial detention. ^[1]

References

1. Duncan Campbell, Richard Norton-Taylor (2 June 2008). "Prison ships, torture claims, and missing detainees". The Guardian . Retrieved 2008-06-01. mirror

•  This article incorporates public domain material from Watkins (T-AKR-315) at the Naval Vessel Register .

External links

• Photo gallery of USNS Watkins at NavSource Naval History