The former Hawaii Superferries Alakai and Huakai have some new geography associated with their names.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Tuesday their new monikers: the USNS Guam and the USNS Puerto Rico.
The selection of the name Guam "honors the long-standing historical and military relationship between Guam and the United States," the Pentagon said in a news release.
In 1898 the United States acquired the island from Spain as a result of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War, the Pentagon said. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese captured Guam, which they occupied until U.S. troops retook the island July 21, 1944.
"Guam continues to host many of the United States’ critical military installations in the Pacific Ocean," the Defense Department noted.
Selection of the name Puerto Rico reflects the association of Puerto Rico and the United States, which dates back to 1898 when Spain ceded control of the island, also in the Treaty of Paris, the Pentagon said.
"High-speed ferries will be used for peacetime operations such as troop transport training, exercise missions and humanitarian and disaster relief," Mabus said. "I am pleased that Guam and Puerto Rico will serve as namesakes for these important additions to the fleet, in honor of their strong military heritage and our many shared values."
The former Hawaii Superferries are being modified to support military operations and to increase the platforms’ endurance by installing changes including crew berthing after they were sold by the U.S. Maritime Administration to the Navy in January for $35 million.
The Navy’s Military Sealift Command in Washington, D.C., said one of the superferries would replace the leased 331-foot Westpac Express based out of Okinawa, Japan, a vessel used to transport Marines and equipment around the Western Pacific, sometime before the end of the calendar year.
The publication Maritime Executive reported in March that the 338-foot Huakai would head to Okinawa to be used by the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, while plans were uncertain for the 321-foot Alakai.
Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo said in a statement that both vessels will be used in the Pacific and that the USNS Guam "will likely be utilized to support operations in and around Guam in the coming years."
The Maritime Administration took custody of the superferries in 2009 as part of bankruptcy proceedings after the state Supreme Court ruled that Hawaii Superferry couldn’t operate without completing an environmental impact statement. The company subsequently folded. Most of the construction costs for the superferries had been covered by $140 million in loan guarantees from the Maritime Administration.
The Alakai made its last round trip between Oahu and Maui in March 2009. A second superferry that was destined for Hawaii, the Huakai, was retrofitted with a vehicle loading ramp that would have allowed access to large piers without having to use an onshore ramp.
Separate from the two former superferries, the Pentagon has plans to build and operate 10 joint high-speed vessels, and said in 2010 that it was looking at basing up to three of the speedy cargo and troop carriers at Pearl Harbor.
The Army talked for years about the advantages of having one of the big joint high-speed vessels in Hawaii to transport Stryker armored vehicles and troops to Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island.
The Navy wanted them to move Marines and equipment and possibly use them as a platform from which it could conduct humanitarian assistance efforts.
Austal USA is under contract with the Navy to build nine 338-foot joint high-speed vessels under a 10-ship, $1.6 billion contract.
Two other high-speed vessels, the HSV-2 Swift, a 320-foot all-aluminum catamaran, and the HSV-X1 Joint Venture, have been tested in Hawaii waters.
The new 338-foot joint high-speed vessels being built will be capable of transporting up to 312 military personnel and crew of up to 41 along with 600 tons of cargo at speeds in excess of 40 miles per hour for 1,380 miles. They can accommodate Abrams tanks, and heavy-lift helicopters can land on their decks.
The vessels are expected to operate with the Navy’s littoral combat ships in shallow waterways as a sea base for U.S. power projection.
The Alabama newspaper website al.com reported Austal President Joe Rella saying the first three joint high-speed vessels are headed to the Pacific to support the Navy and Marine Corps.
