USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE-6) 124 civil service mariners and, at times, will include an additional complement of military personnel and carry two helicopters. USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE-6) USNS "Amelia Earhart" (T-AKE-6), a "Lewis and Clark"-class dry cargo ship is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for noted American aviation pioneer and women's rights advocate Amelia Earhart (1897–1937). The contract to build the ship was awarded to National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) of San Diego, California, on 27 January 2004. Her keel was laid down at the end of May 2007 at General Dynamics' NASSCO shipyard. In early 2007,
Last Flight (book) material written by Putnam, as well as a poem, "Courage", which Earhart had herself written. Although credited to Earhart, historians have cast doubt as to how much of this book was actually written by Earhart and how much had been rewritten or embellished by Putnam. Amelia Earhart explains the origin of her dream to fly a multi-motored plane, which was in May 1935 during her nonstop flight from Mexico City to New York. En route to New York, while flying her single engine Lockheed Vega, she ponders her nightmare that the only engine would “conk” or break down in mid-flight.