Old, Broken MARAD RRF Ship, SS Curtiss, Threatened A Key Marine Corps Asset

As super typhoon Mawar approached America’s island redoubt of Guam, all the large ships in Guam’s port sortied, except for one important U.S. Marine Corps asset. An aging but in-demand U.S. Maritime Administration Aviation Logistics Support Ship, the SS Curtiss (T-AVB 4), was stuck, unable to leave port.

According to a Maritime Administration spokesperson, one of two main propulsion boilers aboard the fifty-two- year-old steam-powered ship was inoperable, making it too dangerous for the important Maritime Administration asset—a floating Marine Corps aircraft repair depot—to ride out the approaching storm at sea.