USNS American Explorer (T-AOT-165) was a tanker built for the United States Military Sea Transport Service.

[1] On 13 August, two weeks before Hurricane Gustav struck the Southeastern Louisiana coastline, the tanker was moved to New Orleans' Industrial Canal.

[2] During the night of 31 August/1 September 2008, as Hurricane Gustav approached the coast of Louisiana, two clusters (Export Courier) of ships were dislodged from their moorings and broke free.

American Explorer was shown in video coverage to be one of two military vessels (along with the former US Navy submarine tender Hunley) that ran into the Florida Avenue Bridge.

Joel Dupree of Southern Scrap Metal Corporation claims the Corps of Engineers were testing docks on the Industrial canal which prevented moving the ships prior to Gustav entering the Mississippi River, and that the American Explorer was properly anchored during the storm.