I'm not sure what a Kennebec-class ship is in the UF universe, and I'm sure the name was chosen because of the river in Maine, but it holds special meaning to me because the USS Kennebec (AO-36) was the ship my grandfather served on during WWII.

My grandfather's Kennebec was the 2nd (and last, so far; the 1st was a Civil War gunboat) US Navy ship bearing the name of the Kennebec River. She was the name ship (Kennebec-class!) of a type of fleet oiler, providing fuel oil, kerosene, diesel oil and aviation gasoline where it was needed. She was originally the tanker SS Corsicana, built in 1940, but was purchased by the US Navy in 1942 and re-christened the USS Kennebec. She was part of the support fleet for the North Africa landings, refueled ships while on North Atlantic convoy duty, and was part of the task group that captured the German U-505. She also saw service in the Pacific during the war. Although she was later in and out of commission depending on the needs of the Navy, she also saw duty during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. My grandfather's Kennebec's final decommissioning was in 1970, and she was sold for "non-transportation use" (I suspect that means scrap) for $180,077 on April 6, 1982.

If you're interested in more about the real Kennebec-class ships, the homepage of the USS Kennebec is at http://www.sadiehawkins.com/kennebec.htm

Thanks for allowing this semi-kinda-on/offtopic digression...

Regards,
Jeanne

http://www.jhedge.com
http://go.compuserve.com/Anime

Jeanne

Heh - nifty. Serendipity strikes again. :)

It is, in fact, named after the Kennebec River, largely because the Kennebec upgrade was developed as part of the alternate "build Truss a hot sleeper ship" project at the IPO Fleet Yards, and Truss is from the region of Maine where the Kennebec is the most significant river. (A Kennebec-class runabout is a Danube-class runabout upgraded for better capabilities in the same footprint - handbuilt modification vs. mass production - in much the same way that the Substance class is an upgraded Lambda.)

If I ever have a runabout in character, it'll most likely be named Aroostook.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Irrelevant information:

There _is_ a Kennebec in US government service today. Not in the Navy, but in the Coast Guard: a Pamlico-class inland construction tender, WLIC 802.

For more info, see:

http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/usa/guard.htm#wlr

Eric J. Heckathorn
ericjh@stargate.net