GySgt Fred W. Stockham (T-AK-3017)
2001–
The first U.S. Navy ship named for GySgt. Fred William Stockham, USMC (16 March 1881- 22 June 1918) who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Battle of Belleau Wood during World War I.
(T-AK-3017; displacement 55,123; length 906.9’; beam 105.6’; draft 36’; speed 24 knots; complement 30; class Shughart).
Lica Maersk -- built at Odense, Denmark, by Lindovaerflet, and delivered for commercial service on 1 January 1980 – was acquired by the Navy on 11 November 1997. Converted at National Steel & Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, Calif., the ship, renamed PFC William A. Soderman (T-AKR-299), was placed in service in 1998 and operated by Bay State Management Inc. under the direction of the Military Sealift Command. She was placed out of service in 2000 for conversion to an enhanced prepositioning ship.
Renamed GySgt Fred W. Stockham (T-AK-3017), the ship was placed back in service on 1 March 2001.
On 12 April 2007 helicopters from GySgt Fred W. Stockham rescued 20 people from a Taiwanese-flagged freighter that ran aground on a coral reef near the Gizo harbor in the Solomon Islands.
Detailed history under construction.
Christopher B. Havern Sr.
10 December 2015
