Shipbuilding News December 2012

Gladding-Hearn delivers 250-passenger fast ferry to Yankee Fleet

Massachusetts-based Yankee Fleet has taken delivery of a new 250-passenger, high-speed catamaran from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding.

The ferry, Yankee Freedom III, will make the daily 70-mile run between Key West, Fla., and the Dry Tortugas National Park under a 10-year contract with the National Park Service. The boat replaces the ferry operator’s interim vessel, Yankee Freedom II, which Gladding-Hearn built in 1999.

The new, larger vessel was designed by Incat-Crowther. The all-aluminum catamaran is 110 feet long, has a beam of 30.6 feet, and draws 7 feet. It is powered by a pair of Caterpillar 3512C EPA Tier 2-approved diesel engines, each delivering 1,650 hp at 1,800 rpm and turning Bruntons propellers. The twin gearboxes are Twin Disc model MGX6848SC Quick Shift. The ferry is equipped with two Caterpillar 58-kW generators, and a Vosper/MDI motion-control system to provide passengers a smoother ride in rough seas. Top speed is more than 28 knots when the ferry is carrying a deadweight of 27 tons.

The vessel design also includes many of the “green” features required by the National Park Service, such as zero discharge, an oil boom and energy-efficient LED lighting throughout the vessel. Additionally, there is a high-efficiency HVAC system, solar-charged emergency batteries, metal-free bottom paint, zero-VOC vinyl marine film instead of paint on the exterior, and a 400-gallon-per-day watermaker.

Accommodations include 142 Beurteaux seats and 24 tables, a snack bar and four heads in the main cabin. The upper cabin features a wet bar and seating and tables for 56 passengers and an additional 54 exterior seats on the aft deck. A 120,000-btu HVAC system heats and cools the cabins and wheelhouse. Interior sound levels are about 70 decibels. 

 

Signet orders ASD tug to be designed by Robert Allan Ltd.

Signet Maritime Corp. awarded the Vancouver-based design firm of Robert Allan Ltd. Naval Architects and Marine Engineers its eighth contract in five years. The new contract is for a 24-meter ASD tug with a bollard pull of 60 metric tons. Construction began at Signet Shipbuilding & Repair, in Pascagoula, Miss., in September.

The tug is the fourth ASD tug built by Signet in 12 months. The new vessel, Signet Magic, will operate from the Pascagoula area, where it will perform ship assist, rig escort, barge and subsea support work.

The new tug’s design and size will allow Signet improved capabilities and maneuverability to assist marine vessels in tight quarters in the Pascagoula Harbor. The environmentally friendly tug will feature lower emissions and reduced fuel consumption to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 3 marine emissions regulations for all propulsion and electrical generating equipment.

At 80 feet in length and with a beam of 36 feet, the boat will be powered by two Caterpillar 3516C engines, each rated 2,575 hp at 1,600 rpm. The engines drive two Rolls Royce US 205 FP azimuthing drives. The propulsion package will provide an estimated running speed of 12 knots and a bollard pull of 60 metric tons.

Deck machinery includes a Markey DEPCF-48 50-hp electric hawser winch on the bow and a Markey DEPC-32 20-hp electric deck winch on the stern. The hawser winch can carry 500 feet of 9-inch circumference synthetic line.

Delivery is expected by May 25, 2013.


 

Gladding-Hearn gets five-boat order from NYPD

With over a dozen patrol boats and a fireboat built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding already operating in New York Harbor, the New York Police Department’s Harbor Unit turned again to the Massachusetts-based shipyard for five new patrol boats — three 61-footers and two 70-footers.

Designed by C. Raymond Hunt, the 61-footers are based on the shipyard’s popular Chesapeake-class pilot boat deep-V hull design. The boats measure 61.5 feet overall, with a 17-foot beam and 3-foot draft.

One of the three 61-footers is set up for diving operations. It has a knuckle boom crane to handle the 15-foot tender and ROVs, three capstans for three-point anchoring, a hydraulic lift platform at the stern, a diver communications system and a dive compressor. The other two 61s are called “Post” boats and don’t have these items.

The two 70-footers, called “Tactical Response” boats, are designed to have the ability to combat terrorists. They have ballistic resistant panels and glass in the superstructure and several non-lethal weapon systems, including a 1,500-gpm water cannon, LRAD (Long Range Acoustical Device) and a laser dazzler. They have a nuclear, biological and chemical filtration system for the accommodations. They also have a knuckle boom crane and deck space to carry a tender and other deck equipment.

Common features for the all of the boats are three control stations for the engines and waterjets — port and starboard in the wheelhouse, and on the fly bridge. They all feature a joystick controller. The fly bridge also has the ability to move a tethered joystick to an aft control station. They all have a deck heating system, midship rescue wells, integrated electronic navigation systems at all three control stations, heated glass, bow fendering for nosing into piers, gyro stabilized satellite dish, CCTV system, auto trim interceptor system and many other features.

All have wide side decks to port and starboard with rescue recesses with steps leading to a platform just above the waterline and a davit on deck for lifting a Stokes litter basket stretcher onto the main deck. Rescues can be performed from the transom as well. The guard over the waterjets forms a platform on which a hinged rescue platform can be lowered and raised hydraulically. 


The 61-foot boat’s main propulsion comes from twin 10-cylinder MTU-10V2000M94 diesel engines, each producing 1,650 hp at 2,450 rpm, giving the boat a top speed of over 35 knots, and at 25 knots a range of about 180 miles. The engines turn a pair of Hamilton HM-521 waterjets through ZF3000 gearboxes.

The 71-footers have the same engine. The jet drive is different, a Hamilton HM-571. The 71-footers are also slightly faster with a maximum speed of 41 knots.
 

USNS Montford Point floated from General Dynamics Nassco building dock

General Dynamics Nassco completed the complex float-out operation for the first Mobile Landing Platform ship, USNS Montford Point, on Nov. 13.

Construction of the ship is progressing ahead of schedule, with the ship currently 91 percent complete. The ship will undergo final outfitting and testing at the pier before completing sea trials. 

Montford Point is scheduled to be christened in March 2013 and delivered to the U.S. Navy in May 2013.

Fabrication of the second Mobile Landing Platform ship, USNS John Glenn, began in April.

The MLP is a new class and type of auxiliary support ship, as part of the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Prepositioning Force of the Future program. The ship will serve as a transfer station or floating pier at sea, improving the U.S. military’s ability to deliver equipment and cargo from ship to shore when land bases do not exist. It will provide capability for large-scale logistics movements such as the transfer of vehicles and equipment from sea to shore.

By Professional Mariner Staff