A Ship on the Strait: SS Aide

The SS Aide was towed out of the Susuin Bay Reserve Fleet on Thursday, March 8.  She is a California native, built at National Steel and Shipbuilding in San Diego.  Her keel was laid in 1959, she was launched in 1960 and delivered to American Export Lines on April 3, 1961.  At that time this C3-S-38a type breakbulk freighter was called the Export Aide.

American Export Lines moved goods the Great Lakes and Eastern Seaboard ports to Europe and Asia.  In 1979 the Export Aide was acquired by the National Defense Reserve Fleet.  She last served her country during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm as an ammunition ship from February 1991 until she was deactivated in February 1992.  In 1994 the Aide was moved to the Reserve Fleet in Susuin Bay.

The Aide is 492 feet long, has a 73 foot beam, draws 27 feet and, when she was on her game, could attain a speed of 18.5 knots.

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