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TAKR 315 Watkins

USNS Watkins is one of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the Prepositioning Program. Most of the ship's time will be spent in and around Diego Garcia, an island in the central Indian Ocean. Large, Medium-speed, Roll-on/Roll-off Ships, or LMSRs, can carry an entire U.S. Army Task Force, including 58 tanks, 48 other track vehicles, plus more than 900 trucks and other wheeled vehicles.

A non-combatant vessel, the USNS Watkins is the sixth in the Watson class of large, medium speed, roll-on/roll-off sealift ships.

The ship carries vehicles and equipment to support humanitarian missions, as well as combat missions. The new construction vessels have a cargo carrying capacity of more than 380,000 square feet, equivalent to almost eight football fields. In addition, LMSRs have a slewing stern ramp and a removable ramp, which services two side ports making it easy to drive vehicles on and off the ship. Interior ramps between decks ease traffic flow once cargo is loaded aboard ship. Two 110-ton single pedestal twin cranes make it possible to load and unload cargo where shore-side infrastructure is limited or nonexistent. A commercial helicopter deck was added for emergency daytime landing.

USNS Watkins was christened in 2000.

In mid-to-late January 2003 the USNS Watkins was observed uploading AH-64D Longbow's, CH-47s, and H-60s. Accounts indicate that at least 30 aircraft have been loaded or are in the process of being loaded. This would appear to be part of the deployment of 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry, either 3-158th Aviation Regiment, or 5-158th Aviation (or both). It is possible, however, that some of these aircraft are attached to Aviation Brigades of 1st Infantry or 1st Armor Divisions. (Initial information found on Scramble Intelligence Service)

Sgt. Travis E. Watkins

Army Master Sgt. Travis E. Watkins, (1920-1950), awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his gallant leadership when an overwhelming enemy force broke through and isolated 30 men from his unit in Korea from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, 1950. After taking command of the surrounded position, Watkins moved from foxhole to foxhole shouting instructions and encouragement to his men. When the need for ammunition became acute, he shot two enemy soldiers 50 yards outside the perimeter and was wounded while recovering their weapons. He then killed three other soldiers who were firing at him and returned with the weapons of all five enemy soldiers. When enemy soldiers gained a position from which they hurled grenades into the perimeter, Watkins rose from his foxhole to engage them, and despite being immediately hit by a burst of machine gun fire, he continued to fire, killing the assailants. Paralyzed from the waist down, he refused food to save it for his fellow soldiers. When the situation became hopeless, he ordered his men to leave him and escape to friendly lines. His small force killed nearly 500 of the enemy before abandoning their position. No previous ship has been named Watkins.