Hi REG,

many thanks for the comment.

Best regards
Joerg

I sailed on this ship during 1990-91, when she was transporting ammunition to the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War". By that time she was very worn out and in need of a refit. I believe she was scrapped not long thereafter.

This was a ship that went through a lot of owners and a lot of names. Built for Moore-McCormack in 1969 as Mormacsea, she was soon sold to American Export Lines and renamed Defiance, under which name she continued to operate for Farrel Lines after the latter took over American export. She was then sold to U.S. Lines, which renamed her American Rover. Finally, after U.S. Lines went out of business, she went to Central Gulf Lines, which dropped the "American" and operated her simply as "Rover".


The Military Sealift Command chartered the ship from Central Gulf on a low-bid charter, under left the company with a very low profit margin, which left little money available to put back into maintenance.

While operating under military charter the ship was painted all-over battleship except for the funnel, which was painted in Central Gulf's company colors. That became the cause of some embarrassment when we arrived in South Korean, where we were challenged by a South Korean destroyer. Apparently, the grey paint scheme and the funnel colors caused the ROK Navy to mistake us for a Red Chinese vessel!