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October 27, 2000  	


NAVY SECRETARY NAMES NEW T-AKE CLASS SHIPS 

	Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig has announced his 
decision to name the Navy's new class of replenishment ships to 
honor legendary explorers.

	The name of the new class and first ship of that class 
will be Lewis and Clark (T-AKE 1) to honor the two explorers who 
led a visionary project that was to become one of American 
history's greatest adventure stories.  Interested in knowing 
more about the country west of the Mississippi, President Thomas 
Jefferson appointed Capt. Meriwether Lewis to lead a small Army 
expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the land beyond 
to find a land route to the Pacific Ocean and to strengthen 
United States claims to the Oregon territory.   Lewis chose his 
former Army comrade Lt. William Clark to be his co-leader of the 
group he called Corps of Discovery.     The explorers were 
assigned to scout, survey, map lands, and make detailed reports 
on western geography, climate, plants and animals, and to study 
Indian customs and language.  The explorers ascended the 
Missouri River to its source, crossed the continental divide, 
and followed the Clearwater, Snake and Columbia Rivers to its 
mouth at the Pacific Ocean.  On their return Lewis and Clark 
separated to learn more about the country.  Lewis struck off 
toward the northeast to explore a branch of the Missouri River 
he named the Marias River, while Clark headed for the 
Yellowstone River.  Their well-documented expedition of two 
years and 6,000 miles opened vast new territories to the United 
States and allowing American settlers and traders to travel the 
routes they had blazed.

	The second ship will be Sacagawea (T-AKE 2) in honor of a 
Shoshone woman who acted as guide and interpreter for Lewis and 
Clark on their expedition into the Northwest region of the 
United States.  Legendary for her perseverance and 
resourcefulness, Sacagawea (1788-1812) provided invaluable 
assistance to the explorers through her knowledge of topography 
and edible roots and plants previously unknown to European-
Americans.   She single handedly saved the expedition's records 
after they had fallen into the Missouri River when their canoe 
capsized.  If she had not rescued these journals, much of the 
record of the first year of the expedition would have been lost 
to history.  This act demonstrated her dedication to the 
journey's success.  Two harbor tugs, (YT 241) (1942) and (YT 
326) (1942-1945) have been named Sacagawea. 

	"The recent tragedy of the USS Cole reminds us not only of 
the precious cost but also of the essential value of our sons 
and daughters exploring uncharted waters," said Danzig.  "Lewis 
and Clark embodied the extraordinary courage of the journey and 
Sacagawea the reality that we cannot undertake any exploration 
alone — that trust and faith are necessary to truly get us 
safely through the frontier.  This new class of ships and the 
men and women that serve on them will embody this spirit and 
ensure that our explorers have what they need to reach their 
destination."

	Designed to operate independently for extended periods at 
sea while providing replenishment services to U.S. and NATO 
ships, and as an auxiliary support ship, the Lewis and Clark 
class ships will directly contribute to the ability of the Navy 
to maintain a forward presence.  These ships will provide 
logistic lift from sources of supply such as ports or at sea 
from specially equipped merchant ships by consolidation, and 
will transfer this cargo (ammunition; food; limited quantities 
of fuel; repair parts; ship store items and expendable supplies 
and material) at sea to stations ships and other naval warfare 
forces. 

	As a secondary mission, these ships may be required to 
operate in concert with a T-AO class ship as a substitute 
station ship to provide direct logistics support to the ships 
within a battle group.  The T-AO class ship, which carries 
liquid cargo, and the T-AKE class ship, which carries dry cargo, 
when operating together in lieu of a station ship, will provide 
the Battle Group with products equivalent to an AOE 1/6 class 
ship.  

	These ships will replace the current capability of the T-
AE 26 class (ammunition ship), T-AFS 1/8 class (combat stores 
ship) and, when operating in concert with a T-AO class ship 
(oiler), the AOE 1 class (fast combat support ship).  Helicopter 
operations to conduct vertical replenishment require the ship to 
support two military cargo logistics helicopters or two 
equivalent commercial variants and associated aviation 
personnel.

						-USN-