LCPL Roy M. Wheat (T-AK-3016)
1997–
Medal of Honor recipient from Vietnam War, Roy Mitchell Wheat, USMC (24 July 1947–11 August 1967). Originally named Vladimir Vaslyayev; renamed Bazaliya in 1996.
(T-AK-3016; displacement 50,059; length 864’; beam 98’; draft 35’ speed 20 knots; complement 31; class Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat).
The first LCPL Roy M. Wheat (T-AK-3016) was laid down in 1987 by Chernomorskiy, Nikolaiev, USSR; delivered for commercial service circa 1990; acquired by the Navy in 1997; converted for Military Sealift Command service at Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Mobile, Ala.; placed in service on 7 October 2003 at Blount Island Command, Jacksonville, Fla.; sponsored by Margaret Taylor, wife of Representative Gene Taylor of Mississippi.
On 20 March 2008, cargo ships LCPL Roy M. Wheat and 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo (T-AK-3008) dropped anchor about six miles off the coast of Monrovia, Liberia, and began conducting an exercise to test whether floating platforms could be established as an at-sea base for Marines to project and sustain forces ashore. Led by U.S. Naval Forces Europe, three commands -- Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron 1, Naval Beach Group 2, and Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 -- worked with the ships. For five days, exercise participants moved vehicles and cargo to shore and experimented with configuring the platforms. The exercise concluded on 6 April.
Detailed history pending.
Christopher B. Havern Sr.
8 December 2015
