USNS City of Bismarck

USNS City of Bismarck in Koror City, Palau in 2021
History
United States
Name	City of Bismarck
Namesake	Bismarck, North Dakota
Operator	Military Sealift Command
Awarded	24 February 2012[1]
Builder	Austal USA[1]
Laid down	18 January 2017[1]
Launched	7 June 2017[2]
Sponsored by	Jane Harman
Christened	13 May 2017[3]
In service	19 December 2017[4]
Renamed	from Sacrifice
Reclassified	T-EPF-9, 2015
Identification	IMO number: 9677571 MMSI number: 368887000 Callsign: NBMK Hull number: JHSV-9
Motto	Possumus Efficiemus (We Can Accomplish)
Status	Active
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Spearhead class expeditionary fast transport
Length	103.0 m (337 ft 11 in)
Beam	28.5 m (93 ft 6 in)
Draft	3.83 m (12 ft 7 in)
Propulsion	4 × MTU 20V8000 M71L diesel engines 4 × ZF 60000NR2H reduction gears
Speed	43 knots (80 km/h; 49 mph)
Troops	312
Crew	Capacity of 41, 22 in normal service
Aviation facilities	Landing pad for medium helicopter

USNS City of Bismarck (JHSV-9/T-EPF-9), (ex-Sacrifice) is the ninth Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport and operated by the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command.[1] It is the first ship in naval service named after Bismarck, North Dakota’s capital city.[5]

Construction and career

The ship's name was announced in 2016 as Bismarck.[5][6] The keel was laid on 18 January 2017,[1][7] by which point the ship's name had been changed to City of Bismarck.[8] The state of North Dakota was represented at the ceremony by Robert O. Wefald, a retired Navy officer, former state Attorney General, and longtime resident of Bismarck. Wefald welded his initials into a steel plate that would be incorporated into the ship.[9]

On 7 June 2017, USNS City of Bismarck was launched at Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.[2] The City of Bismarck completed acceptance trials on 20 October 2017[10] and its delivery was accepted by the U.S. Navy on 19 December 2017.[4]

References

1. "City of Bismarck". Naval Vessel Register. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
2. "USNS City of Bismarck (EPF 9) Launched" (Press release). NAVSEA. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
3. "Austal USA celebrates christening of USNS City of Bismarck (EPF 9)" (Press release). Austal USA. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
4. "Navy Accepts Delivery of USNS City of Bismarck" (Press release). U.S. Navy. 19 December 2017. NNS171219-13. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
5. "Navy Names Multiple Ships" (Press release). U.S. Department of Defense. 6 June 2013. 415-13. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
6. "Defense.gov News Release: Navy Names Multiple Ships". 2016-12-25. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
7. "Navy Marks Milestones for Two Expeditionary Fast Transports" (Press release). U.S. Navy. 19 January 2017. NNS170119-03. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
8. "Navy Marks Milestones for Two Expeditionary Fast Transports". Naval Sea Systems Command. January 19, 2017. Archived from the original on February 9, 2017. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
9. WALA Webstaff (18 January 2017). "Keel laying ceremony for future USNS City of Bismarck at Austal". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
10. "Austal's EPF 9 Completes Acceptance Trials" (Press release). Austal USA. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.

External links

Media related to USNS City of Bismarck (T-EPF-9) at Wikimedia Commons