Heavy Lift Ship to be Used for USS John S. McCain

On 21st August the double hulled chemical/oil products tanker Alnic MC (30040 gt, built 2008) collided with the US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain east of the Straits of Malacca off Singapore. The double hulled chemical/oil products tanker Alnic MC (30040 gt, built 2008) collided with the US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain east of the Straits of Malacca off Singapore.
The US Navy says that it is moving the ship to Yokosuka to allow the crew to be close to their families, and to allow for a complete assessment of the damage. “Completion of the damage assessment is required to fully determine repair plans to include cost, schedule and location for the ship’s repairs,” it added. News of the contract to move the John S McCain comes just days after it emerged that Dockwise had won a similar contract to transport a damaged US Navy vessel back to the US. In a deal won from the US Military Sealift Command, it will transport the USS Fitzgerald back to the US following a smash off Japan in a deal worth $3.1 million. Dockwise is teaming up with Texas-based Patriot Shipping for the doperation, which will see the damaged destroyer loaded onto the 34,000-dwt semi-submersible heavy transport vessel Transshelf (built 1987) off Yokosuka, for transport to Pascagoula in the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to the Fitzgerald and McCain contracts, the US Navy last used a heavy lift vessel to transport a ship back to the US was in 2000 following the attack on USS Cole in Yemen