The mother of the teenager is the commanding officer aboard the fictional USS Akron (AOR-8), a replenishment oiler (tanker), used for underway replenishment ("unrep") of other ships. The real USS Akron was ZRS-4, a helium-filled rigid airship, which served from 1931 until 1933, when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey. No ship of the US Navy has borne the hull number AOR-8. The highest numbered such ship is USS Roanoke (AOR-7), of the Wichita class, serving 1976-95.