NASSCO launches supply ship in San Diego

NASSCO launches supply ship in San Diego The new U.S. Navy supply ship USNS Wally Schirra was launched Sunday at the General Dynamics NASSCO Shipyard in San Diego.
   The ship is the eighth in a series 14 T-AKE cargo and fuel supply ships NASSCO is building for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command. The Lewis and Clark-class T-AKE ships are named after American explorers and are designed to carry ammunition, food, fuel, repair parts, and expendable supplies and material. They will replace older T-AE ammunition ships and T-AFS combat stores ships that are nearing the end of their service lives.
   Schirra was one of the original Mercury astronauts and the only one to fly in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. He died in 2007 at the age of 84. He flew on the fifth Mercury flight in 1962, orbiting the Earth six times, commanded Gemini 6A in flight that saw two manned spacecraft rendezvous in 1965, and also commanded Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo flight. Schirra’s widow, Josephine, broke a bottle of champagne against the side of the ship Sunday.