USNS Schuyler Otis Bland (T-AK-277)

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (December 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 7,059 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Schuyler Otis Bland (AK-277)]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|de|Schuyler Otis Bland (AK-277)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

History
United States
Name	Schuyler Otis Bland
Builder	Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp
Laid down	9 May 1950
Launched	30 January 1951
Acquired	by the US Navy 4 August 1961
In service	28 August 1961
Out of service	1979
Fate	sold for scrap 28 November 1979
General characteristics
Type	Turbine Cargo Vessel
Tonnage	561,000 cu ft (15,900 m3)
Displacement	10,500 Tons light; 15,910 Tons loaded
Length	478 ft (145,70 m) overall; 454 ft (137,20 m) loaded waterline length
Beam	66 ft (20 m)
Draft	27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion	Steam Turbine powered, 1 gearbox and 1 fixed pitch propeller
Speed	18.5 knots (34.3 km/h)
Crew	50

USNS Schuyler Otis Bland also known as SS Schuyler Otis Bland is the only ship of the series C3-S-DX1 (Freedom-class).

Schuyler Otis Bland was laid down, 9 May 1950, as a Maritime Commission type (C3-S-DX1), under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 2918), at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MS.^[1]

Schuyler Otis Bland was a prototype of the series C3-S-DX1 and what was to have been the "Bland class" of cargo ships, but Maritime Administration designers conceived of the even more modern "Mariner class" following her construction.^[2] Following the acquisition of MARCOM by United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) in 1950, the design was done as a C3-S-7. She was launched January 30, 1951, and delivered to the Maritime Commission July 25, 1951.

Schuyler Otis Bland was first assigned to the American President Lines under bareboat charter.^[2] She completed two round-the-world voyages before being transferred to the Waterman Steamship Corporation under a General Agency Agreement.^[2] On July 25, 1952, the C-3 cargo ship went into the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Mobile, Ala.^[2]

In 1957, Schuyler Otis Bland was acquired by the US Navy for operation by .^[1] The American Mail Line had acquired her to replace the , which had foundered in a violent North Pacific storm.^[2] In October 1959, after more than two years with American Mail, she entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Wash.^[2]

On August 4, 1961, USNS Schuyler Otis Bland was delivered to the Navy, and on August 28, assigned to the Military Sea Transport Service (MSTS) and placed in service as USNS Schuyler Otis Bland (T-AK-277).^[1][2] USNS Schuyler Otis Bland departed San Francisco on September 28, 1961, to carry cargo to Bangkok, Saigon, Manila, Kaohsiung, and other Pacific ports, beginning over a decade of service supplying military logistic requirements throughout the world.

She also delivered cargo in the mid 1970s for several consecutive Januaries to the USN and National Science Foundation operations at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The Navy flew in a Port Handling Cargo Group for 30 days to off-load the ship via the man-made floating wharf (made of ice the previous winter and laced internally with steel cable as reinforcement)^[2]

Disposition[]

On August 1, 1970, the Military Sea Transportation Service became Military Sealift Command.^[2] Schuyler Otis Bland was placed out of service in 1979 while at Guam.^[1] She was struck from the Naval Register, and transferred to MARAD for disposal. On November 28, 1979, she was sold for scrap to China Dismantled Vessel Trading Corporation, Kaohsiung, Taiwan for the price of $814,533.50^[1]

Logbook and Okinawa controversy[]

The Bland was a civilian-owned ship regularly employed by the U.S. Navy to transport defoliants incognito and that was able to bypass customs inspections of military vessels entering foreign ports.^[3] The logbook of USNS Schuyler Otis Bland records that the ship was carrying classified cargo that was offloaded under armed guard at White Beach, a U.S. Navy port on Okinawa's east coast on April 25, 1962.^[3] Three months prior to its arrival at Okinawa, the Bland had traveled to South Vietnam to deliver one of the Pentagon's first shipments of defoliants. The account in the ship's logbook states the classified cargo was labeled "agriculture products."^[3] The ship's cargo was documented to include herbicide Agents Pink and Purple for covert tests in Southeast Asia.^[4]

References[]