This June will see Blessey Marine add yet another push boat to its ever growing fleet. The latest addition will be delivered from the John
Bludworth Shipyard in Corpus Christie, Texas.
To be named Dane F. Morgan, the new boat, has been built to a design by John L. Bludworth, III. Like a number of others in the Blessey fleet, the towboat will be powered by a pair of V12-cylinder Cummins KTA38 M0 main engines. Each of these 38-liter (2,300-cu. in.) engines deliver 850 hp at 1,800 rpm. The engines will turn into Twin Disc MG540 6:1 gears to turn 74 x 52-in. stainless steel four-blade "Dominator Type" propellers from Sound Propeller Service, Inc. Ship's service power will be provided by a pair of 75 kW Onan Gensets powered by Cummins 6BT5.6(D)M engines. The boat is equipped with air controls. The steering system is a full follow-up type employing two 5 x 30-in. cylinders. The 74 by 30-ft. hull has a molded depth of 11 ft. and a draft of 8.5 ft. The pilot house has a 32-ft. eye level for good visibility over high floating empty oil barges. The hull is fabricated from .5-in. steel forward, .75-in. steel aft and .375-in. for sides and deck. Four crew rooms have a total of six berths.
Tankage is provided for 22,000 gal. of fuel, 7,000 gal. of water and 360 gal. of lube oil. Furuno navigation electronics are a model FR-8111 radar, Model GP-32 GPS, and a Model FCV-667 echo sounder. The VHF is an ICOM Model IC-M502. Additional equipment and systems include 36-point engine alarm system by Baton Rouge Marine Electric Service. A 1,000-watt Xenon and a 500-watt incandescent search light. Two 40 tons
Nabrico galvanized deck winches will handle the face wires. Air for the controls will be provided by two Speed Air 5Z400B air compressors 17 scfm at 175 psi.
Blessey Marine's Mitch Jones, reports that "the boat will normally push two 30,000 barrel clean or dirty barges. Each barge will be 297-ft. long. I would suspect that particular vessel will operate primarily on the Gulf (of Mexico) Coast."