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SS Bellatrix (T-AKR 288)

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Named after the star in the constellation Orion, the SS BELLATRIX was the second ALGOL - class fast sealift ship and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. Ships in that class are the world's fastest cargo ships. Originally built in the West Germany in 1973 as SS SEA-LAND TRADE for Sea-Land Services, Inc., Port Elizabeth, N.J., the ship was purchased by the Navy in 1981 and converted. The cargo hold was redesigned into a series of decks connected by ramps so that vehicles could now be driven in and out of storage areas for rapid loading and unloading. Four cranes were installed - twin cranes amidships capable of lifting 35 long tons and twin cranes aft capable of lifting 50 long tons. In 1984, the BELLATRIX was delivered to the Military Sealift Command.

Since then, the BELLATRIX was involved in several operations including Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990/91), Restore Hope (1992) and Operation Enduring Freedom (2001 - ). On October 1, 2007, the BELLATRIX was transferred to the MARAD. On October 1, 2008, the ship was transferred to the Ready Reserve Force and lost her USNS designation. On September 8, 2025, she was finally sold for scrapping, arriving at Steel Coast Recycling in Brownsville, Tx., on October 31, 2025.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard SS BELLATRIX. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

• Click here to view the list.

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SS BELLATRIX History:

BELLATRIX (T-AKR 288) began life as the high-speed commercial container ship SEA-LAND TRADE. She was launched on February 1, 1973, as part of Sea-Land's SL-7 program - ships built for very high transit speeds, but burdened by operating costs that limited their commercial usefulness. On October 13, 1981, the ship was acquired for U.S. Government sealift service, and after conversion work she entered Military Sealift Command service in 1984 as USNS BELLATRIX (T-AKR 288), one of eight Fast Sealift Ships intended to move heavy Army equipment quickly. In that configuration she became a roll-on/roll-off vehicle cargo ship with organic heavy-lift capability (two pairs of cranes in 35-ton and 50-ton classes) to complement ramp loading, and she was capable of speeds in excess of 33 knots while carrying bulky unit equipment (including tanks, trucks, and helicopters), with capacity commonly cited at over 700 vehicles. As with her sister ships, USNS BELLATRIX was normally kept in reduced operating status under a skeleton crew focused on maintenance and readiness, assigned with the Fast Sealift Ships to Fast Sealift Squadron One in the New Orleans area and planned for rapid activation (commonly described as 96-hour readiness).

During the Persian Gulf War sealift surge, USNS BELLATRIX was employed in the heavy flow of equipment to the Arabian Peninsula. On January 23, 1991, she departed Savannah, Georgia, carrying 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) equipment bound for Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War deployment effort. In the retrograde phase, the ship returned with division equipment: in the May 6, 1991 issue describing events "Sunday", the article reports USNS BELLATRIX entering the Savannah River shortly after 1:30 p.m. on May 5, 1991 for the upriver run to the Georgia Ports Authority terminals at Garden City, accompanied by a U.S. Coast Guard escort and local craft. That same account notes that BELLATRIX had been among the early ships to sail for Saudi Arabia and that she made five U.S.-Persian Gulf trips associated with the division's deployment. It also describes the initial offload period beginning that evening, with soldiers and transportation units starting a 48-hour operation to discharge 349 wheeled vehicles, 130 trailers, and 274 tracked vehicles, with convoy movements and security supported by multiple Army elements at the port and along routes toward Fort Stewart.

In the years after DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM, USNS BELLATRIX continued in the Fast Sealift force posture - kept largely in reduced operating status but available for contingency activations - and the Fast Sealift Ships as a group were described as participating not only in the Gulf War sealift cycle but also in later contingency operations such as OPERATION RESTORE HOPE. In the post-9/11 era, BELLATRIX was activated in connection with OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. On February 26, 2004, she was documented entering the port of Mina Ash-Shu'aybah, Kuwait, and on March 1, 2004, she was photographed departing the Ash-Shu'aybah port under escort by Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit One Zero Eight (MIUWU 108), providing harbor/sea-base anti-terrorism protection while MSC supported Department of Defense sealift requirements for the operation.

On October 1, 2007, BELLATRIX was transferred to the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), and on October 1, 2008, she shifted into the Ready Reserve Force and accordingly lost the "USNS" designation in normal lay-up, being described in that period as layberthed at Marrero, Louisiana, while remaining a surge sealift asset intended to report to MSC if activated. In MARAD's later fleet accounting, BELLATRIX was placed on a disposal trajectory in 2025: in the June 30, 2025 NDRF inventory notes, she is recorded as beginning a downgrade process to non-retention for direct disposal to a recycle yard, and in the October 2025 inventory changes she is recorded as downgraded to non-retention disposal on October 1, 2025, departing the fleet site for a recycler on October 24, 2025, and arriving at the Steel Coast recycler on October 31, 2025.

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SS BELLATRIX Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Stefan Karpinski and show the BELLATRIX underway in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003.

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