The ship was built in 2007 by
Edison Chouest Offshore,
Louisiana. Later acquired and placed in service with the
Military Sealift Command (MSC) on 20 September 2007, at
Eglin Air Force Base,
Florida under a 5 year contract. She was put into the
Prepositioning Program and the
Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron 3. The ship operates in the
Pacific Ocean. On 20 August 2012, she was then bought by
United States Navy to be used as an OPDS, with the support of . Military officials including Vice Adm.
Joseph P. Aucoin, commander of
U.S. 7th Fleet, attended a tour of the OPDS
VADM K. R. Wheeler during Exercise Ssang Yong 16, off
Pohang on 17 March 2016. The ship together with Task Force-West assisted the islands of
Tinian and
Saipan after they were struck by
Typhoon Yutu on 24 October 2018. ==References==