VIRGINIA PILOT BOAT

Gladding-Hearn Delivers New Pilot Boat

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation, has delivered a new “Chesapeake” class pilot boat to the Delaware pilots. The shipyard’s new class of pilot boats has also been built for the Virginia, Maryland, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Portland, Maine pilots. According to Winn Willard at C. Raymond Hunt Associates, the designer, the increasing popularity of the Chesapeake class results from some subtle changes to the firm’s typical pilot boat design. The boat is six inches longer and wider on deck. There is also an additional six inches of freeboard. The new class is also suitable for a variety of engine options. The all-aluminum “Brandywine,” named after the first pilot boat built for the Delaware pilots by Gladding-Hearn in 1957, measures 52.5 feet overall, with a 17-foot beam and 4.8 foot draft, and has a top speed of 26 knots. The new launch is powered by twin Daewoo V180TIM, 10-cylinder, diesel engines, each delivering 640 bhp at 2100 rpm, with ZF 350A gears. The engines turn 5-blade Hall & Stavert bronze propellers. The Delaware pilots chose an unpainted launch to reduce maintenance. The boat is equipped with heated glass in the windows, as well as heated handrails and decks to prevent ice build-up in the winter. It has wide side-decks, and side and rear doors. At the transom are throttle and steering controls, and a winch-operated U-frame over a recessed platform for pilot rescue operations.

Pilot Boat Capsizes, One Dead

The body of the missing man from the pilot boat that capsized was located 3 miles south of the Galveston Jetties. A T & T Dive Team went into the water this morning and searched the capsized pilot boat, locating the missing pilot still inside. The man's body was taken to Coast Guard Station Galveston, where the captain of the Texas City Pilots Association was waiting. The pilot boat capsized Saturday afternoon after picking up a pilot from a research ship anchored in Galveston Bay

Navy Awards General Dynamics $15.5M for Work on USS Virginia

The U.S. Navy awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $15.5 million contract modification to perform a range of work on USS Virginia (SSN-774) following its shakedown period. The work, known as a Post-Shakedown Availability, comprises maintenance, repairs, alterations, testing and other activities and will be completed in November 2006. Ninety-nine percent of the work will be performed at Electric Boat's shipyard here; one percent will be performed at Quonset Point, R.I

Kvichak Delivers Savannah Pilot Boat

Kvichak Marine recently delivered the Georgia, a 75 x 21 ft. all-aluminum pilot boat, to the SPA, of Savannah, Georgia. Powered by twin Cummins KTA-38 M2 engines rated for 1350 BHP each and Hamilton 651 waterjets as the propulsors, the chosen combination provides for excellent maneuverability and a top speed of ~28 knots. To date, the Georgia is the largest Camarc-designed and Kvichak-built pilot boat operating for U.S. Pilot Associations

Navy Commissions Submarine New Hampshire

U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg will deliver the ceremony's principal address. The ship's sponsor, Cheryl McGuinness of , , is the widow of Lt. Cmdr. Thomas McGuinness, a veteran Navy pilot and co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 which was flown into the of the by terrorists Sept. 11, 2001. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when McGuinness gives the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"

General Dynamics Awarded Second U.S. Navy Sub

The U.S. Navy has released $1.2b for the construction of the 14th Virginia-class submarine, SSN-787, to General Dynamics Electric Boat, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).  This award marks the beginning of production of two submarines per year on the Virginia-class program.   The release of the funding allows procurement of long lead-time components that will support the planned official construction start later this year on the as-yet-unnamed submarine at

Response Marine Develops New Pilot Boat

The new P-310 pilot boat developed by Response Marine is designed to meet the need for a small, fast pilot and transport boat with a low operating and start-up cost. The P-310 is a relatively deep V hull (18-degree transom) with increasingly steep mid and forward sections, designed to deliver a smooth ride. The first hull was built by Viking Welding in Kensington, NH, for use by Eastern Point Pilots, which provides pilot, transport and tow services along the northeaster coast of Massachusetts

GD Gets Contract Option

The U. S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat, a business unit of General Dynamics, a $6 million contract option for the advanced procurement of on-board repair parts for the first four submarines of the Virginia Class. The work will be shared about equally between Electric Boat (55 percent) and Northrop Grumman Newport News (45 percent), Electric Boat's teammate in the Virginia-class construction, and will be completed by the end of 2007.

Pilot Boat Uses Advanced Ventilation

Long Beach, California, is the second largest container vessel port in the United States. With rush periods now demanding bigger boats with more seating, Jacobsen Pilot Service needed a dependable, new craft to deliver up to eight pilots to incoming ships. They turned to Hike Metal, who supplied a 54 ft. welded aluminum pilot boat equipped with Delta "T" Systems ventilation equipment that provides peak engine performance.

Shipbuilder Alu Marine Hands Over Pilot Boat

French shipbuilder Alu Marine hands over pilot boat to ‘The Pilots of the Seine' To improve the quality of their services, Pilots of the Seine have chosen to invest in a “light”, faster and more economical pilot boat, which consumes less fuel. Their new pilot boat is equipped with IPS Volvo propulsion, an innovative system for mid-sizes workboats that can significantly reduce the carbon impact. The Alu Marine Shipyard