USNS Lt . Robert Craig ( T - AK - 252 ) USNS " Lt . Robert Craig " ( T - AK - 252 ) was a " Boulder Victory " - class cargo ship built for the U . S . Maritime Commission during the final months of World War II . She was acquired by the U . S . Army in 1946 and renamed USAT " Lt . Robert Craig " and served the Army until 1950 when she was acquired by the United States Navy . She served the Navy worldwide until 1973 when she was struck and sold . Victory built in California . " Lt . Robert Craig " ( T AK 252 ) was laid down as " Bowling Green Victory " under Maritime Commission contract by California Shipbuilding Corporation , Los Angeles , California , 21 June 1945 ; launched 28 August 1945 ; sponsored by Mrs . C . M . Holladay ; and delivered to her operator , J . H . Winchester , 27 September 1945 . U . S . Army service . She operated under the War Shipping Administration until July 1946 when she was transferred to the Army Transportation Service and renamed " Lt . Robert Craig " . U . S . Navy service . She was acquired by the Navy from the U . S . Maritime Commission 9 August 1950 and assigned to duty under the Military Sea Transportation Service ( MSTS ) . Manned by a civilian crew , " Lt . Robert Craig " steamed from New York City to the U . S . West Coast late in August and began Pacific Ocean supply runs out of San Francisco , California , 14 October . During the next 4 years , she made more than a score of deployments to American bases in the central and western Pacific Ocean , ranging from the Marshall Islands , the Mariana Islands and to the Philippine Islands , South Korea , and Japan . Throughout in much of 1953 , she provided logistics support for the U . S . nuclear testing program in the Marshall Islands . During a deployment in the Far East between March and May 1954 , she steamed to French Indochina carrying supplies for French forces fighting the Vietminh in Vietnam . " Lt . Robert Craig " returned to the U . S . East Coast in mid - August and during the next month completed a roundtrip voyage out of New York City to Europe and back . Thence , she made a 3 month deployment via the west coast to the Far East and back . arriving New York 21 December to resume transatlantic supply runs . Since 1954 , " Lt . Robert Craig " maintained a busy and wide - ranging schedule of operations which has sent her over the major sealanes of the globe in support of far flung American naval and ground forces . She completed more than three dozen transatlantic roundtrips between east and Gulf Coast ports and European ports in Scandinavia , West Germany , the Netherlands , the United Kingdom , and France . In addition she operated in the North Atlantic from 1955 to 1964 while making numerous runs in support of military construction programs and operations along the coast of Greenland . First Mediterranean deployment . " Lt . Robert Craig " made her first deployment to the Mediterranean between 25 March and 20 May 1956 . Since that time she has completed more than a dozen such runs to that unsettled sea and has visited ports in North Africa , France , Italy , Turkey , Greece , and Lebanon . Following American intervention against Communist subversion in the troubled Middle East in 1958 , she supported U . S . peacekeeping operations in Lebanon . In addition several of her Mediterranean cruises have sent her through the Suez Canal for additional logistics missions in the Red Sea , the Persian Gulf , and the Indian Ocean . Worldwide operations . " Lt . Robert Craig " has alternated her busy Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean service with more than a dozen deployments to American bases in the Pacific and the Far East . Operating out of New York , her supply missions have usually sent her via the Panama Canal and the west coast to ports in the Far East from Japan to Southeast Asia . Between December 1961 and November 1964 she made two round the world cruises out of New York to the Far East and back . During the latter deployment , which lasted from 7 May to 18 November 1964 , she visited ports in 17 European , Middle Eastern , and Asian nations from Denmark to South Vietnam , as well as U . S . bases in the Philippine Islands , Okinawa , and the Mariana Islands . Following the increase of American military support in 1965 for the defense of South Vietnam from external Communist aggression , this versatile , hard working cargo ship provided increased logistics support for U . S . forces in troubled Southeast Asia . In 1968 she continued her worldwide supply missions and remained a vital part of America ' s peacekeeping operations from the shores of the eastern Mediterranean to the coast of Southeast Asia . Final inactivation . The vessel served the Navy until she was placed out of service and struck from the Navy List on 15 June 1973 . She was sold for non - maritime use on 26 December 1973 . Her subsequent fate is not known . Honors and awards . Qualified vessel personnel were authorized the following :