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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

SS Cape May (AKR-5063)

Cape M Class Heavy Lift Barge Carrier:

Laid down, 31 October 1971, as SS Almeria Lykes, a Maritime Administration type (C8-S-82a) hull, under Maritime Administration contract (MA hull 242) at General Dynamics Shipyard, Quincy MA

Launched, 27 February 1972

Delivered for commercial service, 26 September 1972 to Lykes Bros Steamship Co.

Purchased from Lykes Bros Steamship Co., by the US Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, 25 July 1986

Renamed SS Cape May

Assigned to MARAD Ready Reserve Force, (RRF) as SS Cape May (AKR-5063)

SS Cape May (AKR-5063) is one of the Military Sealift Command's (MSC) 3 Heavy Lift Barge Carriers and one of the 63 ships of the Sealift Program Office.

SS Cape May is laid up in a layberth at Naval Station Norfolk, VA. in FOS-5 status

Transferred from Ready Reserve Force (RRF) to National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF), for disposal, date unknown

Departed Norfolk, VA., under tow, 15 July 2021, enroute to the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX., arriving 3 August 2021

Specifications:
Displacement 18,900 t.(lt) 55,660 t.(lt)
Length 876'
Beam 106'
Draft 40' (max)
Speed 16.2 kts.
Cargo Capacity 24 barges, 19 CAFS

Complement

Full Operational Status 34

Reduced Operational Status 9

Armament none

Propulsion

two steam turbines

two shafts

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
Merchant Service USA Lykes Bros. SS Co.
0954506310	316k	Christening of Lykes Bros. Cargoliner SS Almeria Lykes by Mrs. Frank A. Nemec, wife of the President of the Lykes Brothers Steamship Co., 27 Ferbruary 1972, at General Dynamics Shipyard, Quincy MA.	Dale Hargrave
	335k	Lykes Bros. Cargoliner SS Almeria Lykes at anchor, circa 1972. Photo © Alex Duncan.	Gerhard Mueller-Debus
	543k	Lykes Bros. Cargoliner SS Almeria Lykes working cargo at Bremerhaven, Germany, late in an afternoon in November 1977.	Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus
0954506306	80k	Lykes Bros. Cargoliner SS Almeria Lykes underway, date and location unknown. Photos courtesy www.photoship.co.uk/	Mike Hibbard
095406307	89k
095406308	79k
SS Cape May (AKR-5063) - MARAD RRF
	52k	*SS Cape May* (AKR-5063)** underway, date and location unknown.	MSC web site
	57k	*SS Cape May* (AKR-5063)** in her layberth at Alameda, CA., date unknown. DOD photo from the Defense Visual Information Center	Peter Westdijk
	35k	*SS Cape May* (AKR-5063)** in her layberth at Alameda, CA., date unknown. DOD photo from the Defense Visual Information Center	Peter Westdijk
	1433k	*SS Cape May* (AKR-5063)** in Boston's Dry Dock Number 3, 8 December 2006. Photo by Arnold Reinhold	Robert Hurst
	197k	*USNS Comfort* (T-AH-20) and SS Cape May (AKR-5063)** moored pierside at Norfolk International Terminals, 22 September 2017	Photo by Hugh L. Hudson III
0954506311	65k	Overhead view of *SS Cape May* (AKR-5063)** tied up pierside date and location. US Navy MSC Inventory	Robert Hurst