USNS Mount Baker (T-AE-34) is the seventh of eight s, currently in service with the Military Sealift Command

Military Sealift Command

The Military Sealift Command is a United States Navy organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's...

. She is the second U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, and is named for Mount Baker

Mount Baker

Mount Baker , also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States. It is the second-most active volcano in the range after Mount Saint Helens...

, a volcano in the Cascade Range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

 of Washington. Ammunition ships operated by Military Sealift Command provide logistic support to US Navy ships at sea.

Mount Baker was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding

Ingalls Shipbuilding

Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA, originally established in 1938, and is now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries...

, Pascagoula, Mississippi

Pascagoula, Mississippi

Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...

. She was commissioned 22 July 1972 as USS Mount Baker (AE-34) and entered service with the Atlantic Fleet

U.S. Atlantic Fleet

The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...

.

In 1976, the Chief of Naval Operations

Chief of Naval Operations

The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

 authorized the testing of the LAMPS MK III System aboard her flight deck. Later that year, Mount Baker gave support to rescue operations of the Navy's nuclear-powered submersible (NR-1). In 1977, she was awarded the Battle E

Battle Efficiency Award

The Battle Effectiveness Award , commonly known as the Battle "E", is awarded annually to the small number of U.S...

as the best ammunition ship in the Atlantic Fleet.

On 18 December 1996, Mount Baker decommissioned and was placed in service with the Military Sealift Command. The ship's designation was changed to T-AE-34. She remains in service, providing ammunition onload and offload support to U.S. Navy ships operating in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean.

On July 20, 2009, the Navy announced that the ship would be inactivated on August 2, 2010. She is presently laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, Pa., awaiting to be sunk as a target.