New Navy supply vessel launched

New Navy supply vessel launched With the shattering of a champagne bottle, General Dynamic’s San Diego-based National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. on Sunday launched the military’s newest dry cargo/ammunition ship in San Diego.
   The USNS Amelia Earhart, named for the famed female aviator, is the sixth of 11 ships of a new Navy class of supply vessels being built by NASSCO under $2.8 billion in government contracts.
   Construction began on the new vessel in January 2006 and NASSCO plans to make delivery by the end of the year.
   More than 2,000 people attended the launching, including Earhart’s stepson and niece, who christened the vessel.
   Earhart, who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937, set numerous flight records during her brief aviation career. In 1932, she became the first female pilot to fly solo from Hawaii to the Bay Area. In 1935 she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and the first woman to receive the Congressionally-awarded Distinguished Flying Cross.
   The Navy vessel bearing her name is part of the Combat Logistics Force class of ships designed to deliver ammunition, provisions, stores, spare parts, potable water, and petroleum products to the Navy’s carrier and expeditionary strike groups. Able to carry more than 10,000 tons of cargo, the nearly 700-foot-long vessels have a projected service life of 40 years.