Gopher State class crane ship
Encyclopedia
The Gopher State-class crane ships of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
are a class of auxiliary vessels. The lead ship of the class is named in honor of the state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
.
All three vessels of the class were former Sea Witch-class container ships built at the Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...
for American Export Lines. After AEL was acquired by Farrell Lines
Farrell Lines
Farrell lines Incorporated was named in 1948 after James A. Farrell Jr., and John J. Farrell, sons of James A Farrell Sr., president of US Steel. The company was previously known as American South African Lines . It was a passenger/cargo line in regular service from New York to South Africa...
in 1978, the ships sailed for a few years before being returned to the Maritime Administration (MARAD). They were converted to naval service as crane ships
Crane vessel
A crane vessel, crane ship or floating crane is a ship with a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads. The largest crane vessels are used for offshore construction. Conventional monohulls are used, but the largest crane vessels are often catamaran or semi-submersible types as they have increased...
in the mid-1980s.