Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Wackiest Ship in the Army!

I was perusing the local news.
Landslides, volcano, two more journalists killed....yup same old same old.

Then I checked for humanitarian news, and found the hospital ship Mercy has left after spending a month treating people in the South (with a short break to treat Indo earthquake victims).
However, the HSV Joint Vessel has arrived and was unloading humanitarian supplies to Zamboanga....

The HSV Joint Venture is not only a weird looking ship, but has another weird fact about it: Although it is a US Navy ship, it is a joint venture, and on this rotation it is manned by the US Army.. LINK

It's a high speed catamaran, AKA Superferry.
But it's a little bit more spiffy than the USS KIWI...
And for trivia fans: the Kiwi was loosely based on the USS Echo LINK
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Update: re: USS ECHO
Wikipedia says the Echo is fictional, but a google shows that it is listed on Military History website..
From the History of Amercan Navy Fighting Ships:

Echo (IX-95), a scow of New Zealand registry, was built in 1892; transferred to the Navy under reverse lend lease from New Zealand; and commissioned 4 November 1942, Ensign M. C. Riddle in command.
Sailing from Auckland, New Zealand, 11 November 1942, Echo delivered cargo at Noumea en route to Efate in the New Hebrides. Based on this island at Port Vila, she "served as a supply ship for the Army in the New Hebrides and adjoining island groups. On 14 February 1944, just prior to her departure for New Zealand, the Army awarded her crew a commendation. She arrived at Wellington 12 March 1944, was decommissioned 3 days later and returned to the New Zealand Government.

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