The three sister ships were in 1977 by the shipyard Kawasaki Heavy Industries , Japan , for the London shipping company Seaspeed Ferries to Bereederung built by Morland navigation. Initially, the trio of ships was used for a liner service between North America and ports in the Middle East. In 1981 the ships were sold to the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia and renamed. In 1993 the MARAD acquired the ships. After a conversion at the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard Sparrows Point in Baltimore, the units came into service in 1994 for use in the Military Sea Transport Service , the US Navy's military maritime transport .
The Cape Ray (T-AKR-9679) was used in 2014 for the disposal of chemical weapons from Syria.
Technical details
The propulsion of the ships consists of two MAN four-stroke diesel engines of the type 14V 52/55, each with an output of 10,444 kW, built under license by Kawasaki. A shaft generator with an output of 1400 kW each is attached to both engines . In addition, the ships have two auxiliary diesels , each with an output of 1900 kW.
