The Watson class vehicle cargo ship is a class of vehicle cargo ships, used for prepositioning of Army vehicles. The class comprises eight of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 33 ships in the Prepositioning Program.
The lead ship of this class is USNS Watson (T-AKR-310). The class, as with the lead ship, was named for Private George Watson, a Medal of Honor Recipient.
The lead ship of the class was laid down on 23 May 1996, launched on 26 July 1997, and put into service in the Pacific Ocean on 23 June 1998. The most recent ship of the class is the USNS Soderman (T-AKR-317), laid down on 31 October 2000, launched on 26 April 2002, and put into service in the Pacific Ocean on 24 September 2002.
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“We hold our hate too choice a thing
For light and careless lavishing.”
—Sir William Watson (1858–1936)
“A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“If you are to reach masses of people in this world, you must do it by a sign language. Whether your vehicle be commerce, literature, or politics, you can do nothing but raise signals, and make motions to the people.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)
“Nitrates and phosphates for ammunition. The seeds of war. They’re loading a full cargo of death. And when that ship takes it home, the world will die a little more.”
—Earl Felton, and Richard Fleischer. Captain Nemo (James Mason)
“The human heart is like a ship on a stormy sea driven about by winds blowing from all four corners of heaven.”
—Martin Luther (1483–1546)