MV American Cormorant

MV American Cormorant (AK-2062), was a heavy-lift cargo ship built in 1975, that took part in the Gulf War.^[1] The ship is named after a genus of cormorant comprising three species found in the Americas, hence the common name American cormorant.^[2]

MV American Cormorant
History
United States
Name	American Cormorant
Namesake	American Cormorant
Owner	Odd Berg & Co. (1975–1982) Fearnley & Eger (1982–1985) Osprey Ship Management (1985–2005) Sam Woo Holdings Ltd. (2014-2010s)
Builder	Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstad
Yard number	674
Laid down	1975
Launched	1975
Completed	1975
Renamed	Kollbris (1975–1982) Ferncarrier (1982–1985) American Cormorant (1985–2005) Asian Atlas (2014–2010s)
Identification	IMO number: 7388712 Callsign: V4YF2 Hull number: AK-2062
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Type	Heavy-lift cargo ship
Displacement	17,942 metric tons (17,659 long tons), light 70,692 metric tons (69,576 long tons), full
Length	738 ft (225 m)
Beam	175 ft 4 in (53.44 m)
Draft	34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)
Propulsion	1 × diesel engine 1 × shaft
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Capacity	approx. 4,190 metric tons (4,120 long tons)
Complement	20 mariners

Construction and commissioning

The ship was built in 1975 by the Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstad, Gothenburg, Sweden. She was delivered to be used by Odd Berg & Co. as MV Kollbris in the same year until January 1982.^[3][4]

Kollbris was later sold to Fearnley & Eger and renamed to MV Ferncarrier from 1982 until 1985. During her time in Fearnley & Eger, she was converted from a tanker to a heavy-lift carrier.^[5][3]

In 1985, she was bought by Osprey Ship Management as MV American Cormorant and chartered by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) for the US Army.^[6] She was assigned to Marine Prepositioning Squadron 2 and was forward deployed at Diego Garcia.^[3] American Cormorant was underway in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.^[7]

The contract with MSC was completed in 2002 and she would be returned to commercial service with Osprey until 2014.^[3] Sam Woo Holdings Ltd. bought and operated the ship as Asian Atlas.^[8][9] She would be scrapped later.^[8]