2005: Construction Begins on a U.S. Navy Ship Named after a Space Exploration Pioneer

September 13, 2005

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) began construction on USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), a U.S. Navy underway replenishment (UNREP) vessel. (This type of vessel is used to transport fuel, munitions, and various other supplies to ships out at sea.) The building of the Alan Shepard took place at NASSCO’s shipyard in San Diego.

This ship was named after one of the most acclaimed space exploration pioneers in history. In 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (1923-1998) became the second person and the first American to travel into space. A decade later, he became both the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon. Shepard, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, was also a career Navy pilot. He retired from that military branch as a rear admiral in 1974.

As part of the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force, the ship bearing Shepard’s name was designated USNS (standing for “United States Naval Ship”) because such vessels – unlike their United States Ship (USS) counterparts – are staffed mostly by civilian sailors and contractors working for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC).

The Alan Shepard, measuring 689 feet (210 meters) in length, was launched on December 6, 2006. The Associated Press (AP) reported on this mid-week morning ceremony, which is depicted in the accompanying photo.

“The first American in space is the namesake for the Navy’s newest supply ship,” recounted AP. “With the crack of a champagne bottle across the towering bow, the USNS Alan Sheppard slid  off its dry dock ramp Wednesday and into the quite waters of San Diego Bay.” The christening duties were handled by Shepard’s oldest daughter Laura Shepard Churchley. Sheppard’s other daughter, Juliana Shepard Jenkins, was also on the platform during this ceremony. (Shepard’s widow Louise Brewer Shepard passed away only five weeks after his death.)

The Alan Shepard entered active service on June 26, 2007, as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. By 2023, she had been reassigned to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. This fleet encompasses a vast region that includes the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and portions of the Indian Ocean.

The Alan Shepard is one of the 14 UNREP vessels that constitute the Navy’s Lewis and Clark class of cargo ships operated by MSC. All of these vessels have been named after famous American trailblazers. The Alan Sheppard was the third of these ships to go into service. The first of these ships was USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1), named after explorers Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838). The second ship was USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE-2); this vessel was named after Sacagawea (c. 1788-1812), the Lemhi Shoshone woman who served as both guide and interpreter for the historic Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804-06.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Additional information on USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3) is available at https://www.nvr.navy.mil/SHIPDETAILS/SHIPSDETAIL_AKE_3.HTML

For more information on the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark-class_dry_cargo_ship