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Open data · every figure carries its source
Bulk carrier
Operated by Military Sealift Command
Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan Vargas · Public domain · file
Largest in this registry
#11,736
of 84,014 with a recorded tonnage
Largest bulk carrier
#1,460
of 6,489 of this type with a recorded tonnage
Largest in its fleet
#5
of 12 in this fleet with a recorded tonnage
In brief
USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12) is a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of William McLean, a United States Navy physicist, who conceived and developed the heat-seeking Sidewinder missile. The contract to build William McLean was awarded to National Steel and Shipbuilding Company on 12 December 2008. William McLean was launched on 16 April 2011, sponsored by Dr. McLean's niece, Margaret Taylor.
The ship was delivered to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on 28 September 2011.
Vessel particulars
Every value is as recorded in the source. Blanks are values the source does not hold — none is estimated from a sister ship or a class average.
Identification
Construction
Measurements
In context
Every figure in this section is a count, a rank or a percentile over vessels actually held in this registry — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.
At 43,758 gross tons, USNS William McLean is the 11,736th largest of the 84,014 vessels in this registry that report a tonnage. The median across that set is 5,994 GT, so this hull is about 7.3 times the typical vessel on record here. The largest measures 499,167 GT.
Among the 6,890 bulk carriers held here, it ranks 1,460th by tonnage — larger than 77% of that group. Their median tonnage is 32,837 GT, and the largest tenth begin at 85,849 GT. The flag most often flown by this group is Panama (1,548 ships). The yard that appears most often against it is Oshima Shipbuilding, with 337 hulls on record.
United States is the country of registry for 2,278 vessels in this directory, of which USNS William McLean is the 104th largest by tonnage. The most common class under that flag is vessels this registry holds no type classification for (977 ships), and the median vessel measures 1,706 GT. Browse every ship flagged United States.
Narrowing to both dimensions at once, this registry holds 37 bulk carriers flying the United States flag, of which none is larger than USNS William McLean.
USNS William McLean was built in 2011, making it 15 years old. It is one of 2,848 hulls in this registry delivered that year, a cohort whose median tonnage is 23,456 GT; within it this ship is the 754th largest. Across the whole of the 2010s the registry holds 20,111 vessels, median 23,456 GT. The median build year across the entire registry is 1995.
The registry attributes 48 vessels to NASSCO, with a median tonnage of 43,758 GT, delivered between 1960 and 2021. See the rest of that yard’s output.
At 210.0 m overall, USNS William McLean is 20.0 m longer than the 190.0 m median for bulk carriers on record, with a beam of 32.3 m and a draft of 9.1 m.
IMO numbers are issued in broadly chronological blocks. Within 500 either side of 9552006 this registry holds 66 other vessels, whose median build year is 2011 and which range from 2008 to 2017. That places this hull’s registration in the same part of the series, consistent with its recorded build year of 2011.
Its IMO number, 9552006, carries its own check digit. The first six digits are weighted seven down to two and summed — 9×7 + 5×6 + 5×5 + 2×4 + 0×3 + 0×2 = 126 — and the last digit of that total, 6, must equal the seventh digit, 6. It does, so this number is well formed.
Nearest by tonnage among bulk carriers
| Ship | Built | Gross tonnage |
|---|---|---|
| Aeolian Vision | 2011 | 43,767 |
| Inspiration | 2010 | 43,764 |
| Sylvia | 2010 | 43,764 |
| USNS William McLean (this ship) | 2011 | 43,758 |
| Ruby Star | 2011 | 43,753 |
| Izabella M | 2011 | 43,753 |
| Legend I |
Class
| Ship | IMO | Flag | Built | Gross tonnage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USNS Lewis and Clark | 9271418 | United States | 2006 | 43,758 |
| USNS Alan Shepard | 9284350 | United States | 2007 | 43,758 |
| USNS Sacagawea | 9271420 | United States | 2007 | 43,758 |
| USNS Richard E. Byrd | 9300609 | United States | 2008 | 43,758 |
| USNS Robert E. Peary | 9319806 | United States | 2008 | 43,758 |
| USNS Amelia Earhart | 9319818 | United States | 2008 | 43,758 |
| USNS Wally Schirra | 9345116 | United States | 2009 | 43,758 |
| USNS Carl Brashear | 9345104 | United States | 2009 | 43,758 |
| USNS Matthew Perry | 9383625 | United States | 2010 | 43,758 |
| USNS Charles Drew | 9508287 | United States | 2010 | 43,758 |
| USNS Washington Chambers | 9551997 | United States | 2011 | 43,758 |
| USNS Medgar Evers | 9593115 | United States | 2012 | 43,758 |
Same fleet

USNS John Glenn
2014 · 58,265 GT · United States

USNS 1st Lt. Harry L. Martin
1980 · 48,626 GT · United States

USNS 1st Lt. Jack Lummus
1986 · 44,543 GT · United States

USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo
1985 · 44,543 GT · United States

Sea-based X-band Radar
2002 · 32,690 GT · United States
Empire State
2010 · 29,527 GT · United States
Provenance
Vessel recordWikidata, released under CC0, keyed on this ship’s IMO number.
Written summaryQuoted from USNS William McLean on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
PhotographBy U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan Vargas, reused under Public domain.
| 2010 |
| 43,753 |