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TAKR 316 Pomeroy

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command christened its newest large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship March 10 at National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego. The ship's sponsor Arlene May Pomeroy Castle broke a bottle of champagne over the ship's bow and pronounced the ship United States Naval Ship Pomeroy, named in honor of her brother Army Private First Class Ralph E. Pomeroy, a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient.

Pomeroy is the seventh ship completed of eight Watson-class large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships being built at National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego, Calif.

USNS Pomeroy will sail as a monument to this brave American -- acting as a deterrent to enemies around the world prepositioning Army cargo at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

At 950-feet long and 105-feet wide, the gray-hulled ship is only about 100-feet shy of an aircraft carrier. From Pomeroy's deck, her crew of 30 civilian mariners will actually be able to look down on the deck of an aircraft carrier. The LMSR has 380,000 square feet of cargo capacity, which will be loaded with tanks, vehicles and other U.S. Army equipment in mid December 2001. Pomeroy will then depart the United States for Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean where she will spend about 30 months on station prepositioning her Army cargo.

USNS Pomeroy is one of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 42 ships in 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.

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 Pomeroy was christened in 2000.

PFC Ralph E. Pomeroy

Pfc. Pomeroy received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions Oct. 15, 1952, near Kumbwa, Korea. While Pomeroy's platoon attempted to hold key ground, Pomeroy manned a machine gun at the end of a trench to protect the platoon's flank from a surprise attack. Enemy forces attacked through a ravine leading directly to Pomeroy. Pomeroy began firing on the enemy, inflicting heavy casualties, so the attacking force concentrated their fire on Pomeroy's position. Despite intense enemy fire, Pomeroy continued to shoot until he was severely wounded and his gun mount was inoperable. At this point, he picked up the hot, heavy gun and charged the enemy, firing until he ran out of ammunition. He then used the gun as a club to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until he was mortally wounded. Pomeroy's brave actions cost him his life but enabled his platoon to hold their position.