The 648-foot roll-on/roll-off and container ship MV Cape Ray (T-AKR-9679), built in 1977, was previously known as MV Saudi Makkah and MV Seaspeed Asia.[2] She can carry 1,315 containers and has both bow and stern thrusters.[2]
After being acquired on 29 April 1994,[1] MV Cape Ray (T-AKR-9679) was in the Ready Reserve Force.[3] She is generally used to transport vehicles to war zones from the United States.
Syrian weapons destruction
Cape Ray played a central role in the 2014 destruction of Syria's declared stockpile of chemical weapons. For that mission she was under the command of civilian master Rick Jordan and was outfitted with two Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems by United States Army civilians, who then performed the destruction operations at sea.[4]
On 16 January 2014 the Italian Minister of Infrastructures and Transports, Maurizio Lupi, said that MV Cape Ray would load 530 tons of chemical weapons material in the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria, Italy, from the Danish ship MV Ark Futura.[5] She deployed on 25 June 2014.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Polmar, Norman (2005). The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet (18 ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 316. ISBN 978-1591146858. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ^ "U.S. Delivers Gear to Destroy Syrian Chemical Arms at Sea". Defense Treaty Ready Inspection Readiness Program. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ^ "Cape Cape Ray neutralizes Syrian chemical materials". www.msc.navy.mil. U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command. August 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
- ^ Davies, Lizzy (16 January 2014). "Italian mayor dismayed as port chosen for Syrian chemical weapons transfer". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 January 2014.