Powhatan News

Bollinger Shipyards announced it has laid the keel for the future USNS Muscogee Creek Nation at its yard in Houma, La.The vessel is the 10th Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ship (T-ATS) and the fifth T-ATS vessel being constructed by Bollinger since acquiring the program in April of 2021.The keel authenticators were the Hon. David W. Hill, Principal Chief of the Muscogee Creek Nation, the Hon. Geri Wisner, Attorney General of the Muscogee Creek Nation and ship sponsor…

Bollinger Shipyards announced it has christened the USNS Navajo (T-ATS 6), the lead vessel of the U.S. Navy’s new Navajo-class of towing, salvage and rescue (T-ATS) ships.During a ceremony on Saturday, Arlando Teller, Assistant Secretary for Tribal Affairs, U.S. Department of Transportation, served as keynote speaker, joined ship sponsor Jocelyn Billy as she broke a ceremonial bottle of sparkling wine across the bow of the new vessel.“This isn’t just any ship; it's the first of its kind.

Bollinger Shipyards last week officially commenced construction of the U.S. Navy's future USNS Muscogee Creek Nation, at Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. The vessel is the 10th Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ship (T-ATS) and the fifth T-ATS vessel being constructed by Bollinger since acquiring the program in April of 2021.“We’re excited to be able to utilize our newly acquired facility in Pascagoula to maximize our mobility and efficiency on the T-ATS program as we officially kick off construction on the fifth of five T-ATS ships to be built by Bollinger…

Lyon Shipyard Inc., in Norfolk, Va. has been awarded a $13,489,440 firm-fixed-price contract to provide the management, technical, procurement, production, testing and quality assurance necessary to plan, prepare and execute all maintenance, repair and alterations required to complete the docking phased maintenance availability onboard the USNS Narragansett (TSV-4), the U.S. Department of Defense announced.Work will be performed in Norfolk, Va., and is expected to be completed…

Mississippi shipbuilder VT Halter Marine, Inc. has launched a new ferry, Powhatam, for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).In November 2016, VT Halter Marine was awarded the contract for the design, construction and delivery of the new 499-passenger/70-vehicle ferry that will replace the current vessel, the Virginia, which was built in 1936. The new ferry Powhatam, measuring 270ft x 65ft x 15ft, is capable of holding up to 70 passenger vehicles, or 14 trucks/buses…

A crane barge that will be used to hoist a sunken tug in Sitka, Alaska has arrived to the wreck site. The evolution to raise the tug is expected to take up to 10 days, the U.S. Coast Guard said. U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Sitka and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation have been monitoring the out-of-service tug Powhatan, which sank at a pier in Sitka, April 19 and slid approximately 300 yards down a bank ultimately settling in 160 to 180 feet of water. The tug's owner, Samson Tug and Barge Company, contracted Southeast Alaska Petroleum for pollution recovery and Alaska Commercial Divers to plug vents and survey the vessel underwater. Since the sinking, an estimated 400 gallons of mixed product has released from the sunken tug.

An out of service tug has sunk at the Samson Tug and Barge Company pier in Sitka, Alaska. The 81-foot vessel Powhatan owned by Samson Tug and Barge Company sank at the pier on the evening of April 19 and subsequently slid under the pier approximately 200 yards along an underwater ledge. U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Sitka and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation personnel are responding. Samson Tug and Barge Company is developing a salvage plan and has contracted Southeast Alaska Petroleum Response Organization for oil recovery and Hanson Maritime to dive and survey the tug. The vessel, which has been out of service for over 10 years…

1813 - During the War of 1812, the frigate Congress, commanded by John Smith, captures and burns the British merchant brig, Jean, in the Atlantic. 1855 - The screw ship Powhatan lands her Marine guard at Shanghai, China, to protect the lives and property of Americans during a period of unrest. 1882 - Commodore Robert W. Shufeldt, onboard USS Swatara, arrives in Korea to negotiate the first commerce treaty between Korea and a Western power. The treaty is signed on May 22, opening Korea to United States trade. 1944 - USS England (DE 635) sinks Japanese submarine I 16, the first of five submarines the destroyer sinks in a weeks time. 1944 - USS Niblack (DD 424), USS Ludlow (DD 438), and British aircraft sink German submarine U 960 off Oran, Algeria.

Following the Intrepid's annual Tug Races on Sunday, September 2, I had the opportunity to ride back from Pier 86 on 46th St. in Manhattan to Staten Island on the Janet M. McAllister. I remember sitting on the edge of the tug, the waves slapping against the sides, as the powerful vessel motored south from Midtown Manhattan to the Staten Island port where the company keeps its tugs. I also vividly remember seeing the World Trade Center as I had never before — from a tug in the Hudson River. Little did I know that this would be the very last time I would ever see them — for the next time I would view them would be from the roof of my 12-story office building, smoke billowing from the top — collapsing in front of my eyes.

The tugboat Powhatan, operated by Donjon Marine, Co., Inc., leads Donjon's 1,000-ton-capacity derrick barge the Chesapeake, the largest floating crane on the East coast, and two laden Lockwood Marine tug/barge units southbound in the ice-laden Hudson River from the Port of Albany in late January. The Donjon tugboat, Mary Alice, provides escort and added ice breaking capacity for the flotilla. The flotilla had just completed loading of General Electric manufactured turbines, generators and rotors onto barges for the domestic market. The 250-mile round trip on the Hudson was often through 20 inches of ice.

A BP Amoco oil tanker stranded off the coast of Bermuda for 12 days with engine problems set sail for Freeport, Texas after repairs were completed. The British Valour, carrying 300,000 tons (2.2 million barrels) of North Sea crude oil and a crew of 22, broke down 92 miles (148 km) southeast of the British dependent territory on March 18 after suffering a crankcase explosion. No one was injured and no oil spilled. Engineers on the Delaware-based tugboat Powhatan boarded the ship on Saturday to begin repairs and completed their work at midday on Thursday, said a spokesman for Bermuda-based Harbor Radio, which monitors shipping movements. The tanker was chartered by Norway's state oil company Statoil.

A tugboat sent to rescue an oil tanker drifting off Bermuda should reach the ship by Friday night, BP Amoco said. "The boat is expected to keep clear of land and shipping lanes until the tugboat arrives," said a BP spokesman, adding the tug was due Friday around 9:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. EST/Saturday 0100 GMT). The tanker, the British Valour, which had been Texas-bound with 300,000 tons (2.2 million barrels) of crude oil, has been floating at the mercy of the winds after an engine explosion Sunday. "Ship and crew are doing well. There have been no injuries and no oil spill," the spokesman said. The rescue by Delaware tugboat, Powhatan…

Based in Coos Bay Oregon, Sause Brothers Towing has been towing between Pacific Northwest and Southern Californian ports for over 50 years. In the past 30 years they have also become noted for their long ocean tows from the US west coast to Hawaii and beyond to the South Pacific. The family-owned company currently operates a fleet of 32 ocean and harbor tugs as well as 24 general cargo and oil barges. A new double-hulled 105,000-barrel oil barge, Sunset Bay, is currently alongside at the company shipyard in Coos Bay.

Based in Coos Bay Oregon, Sause Brothers Towing has been towing between Pacific Northwest and Southern Californian ports for over 50 years. A new double-hulled 105,000-barrel oil barge, Sunset Bay, is currently alongside at the company shipyard in Coos Bay. With the hull built at the Gunderson yard in Portland it is being outfitted by Sause. Also at the yard, the ocean going tug Powhatan is undergoing an extensive repower that will see a pair of 850 HP engines replaced with a pair of Cummins KTA50 M2 mains each rated for 1500 HP at 1800 RPM. A new pair of Reintjes WAF772 marine gears with 7.45:1 ratios have also been installed in the 105x30-foot tug.

Donjon Marine Co., Inc., a provider if multi-faceted marine services including marine salvage, ocean and inland towing, emergency response, and dredging, provided towing and logistical support thru its U.S. Navy Salvage and Related services contract, in the towing out to sea of the Navy’s USS America, the third Kitty Hawk-class attack aircraft carrier on April 19. The Navy will conduct tests on the carrier, commissioned in 1965, for a number of weeks and then the ship will be sunk. Donjon coordinated the movement of the USS America from its lay berth located in the Philadelphia Naval Yard, thru the Delaware River to the open ocean where the vessel was towed by Donjon’s 7000-Horse Power Atlantic Salvor and 8000-Horse Power Powhatan to the Project site.

Donjon Marine is serving as the lead salvage contractor for the Katrina/Rita Response as a result of its competitively bid U.S. Navy Salvage and Related Services Contract with the U.S. Navy, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving . Donjon has held this contract, uninterrupted, since 1979, after a competitive bidding process approximately every five years. As such, Donjon supplies equipment and personnel in support of the needs of the Federal Response Team (FEMA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Coast Guard who task and direct SUPSALV), and also has a 10-person management team in place in Alexandria, LA, to manage the salvage response effort.

Donjon Marine and the Turkish Navy entered into an agreement to tow four ex-U.S. navy frigates from the East Coast of the U.S. to Golcuk, Turkey. The first, ex-USNS Miller measuring 414 x 44 x 24 ft. (126.1 x 13.4 x 7.3 m), began its voyage under tow by Donjon's 7,200-hp salvage tug Powhatan last July, for a scheduled arrival in Turkey this month. From there, Powhatan will return to the U.S. to retrieve the second frigate in Charleston, S.C., while the remaining two frigates are being held at the Philadelphia Naval Yard.

The U.S. Navy has awarded Donjon Marine Co. Inc. a five-year lease of tug USNS Powhatan. The multi-purpose tug can conduct long-distance tows and when augmented with additional crew and equipment, operate in support of fire fighting, diving and salvage missions. Minor modifications will be made to the vessel, including changing the paint scheme to Donjon's standard blue as well as reconfiguring the wheelhouse to make it more "merchant marine user friendly". The lease of the vessel is part of Donjon Marine's plan for steady expansion into the international salvage and salvage related towing industry. USNS Powhatan will join a fleet of coastal and ocean towing vessels, crane barges, dredges, crew boats, deck barges and assorted salvage equipment.

Donjon Marine's 7,200 hp salvage tug Powhatan deliverd the fourth and final ex-U.S. Navy frigate to the Turkish Governement. Donjon Marine had been contracted last year to tow the frigates ? three in Philadelphia and one in Charleston, S.C. - and deliver them to the Turks in the Sea of Marmara. Each frigate (414 x 44 x 24 ft.) was towed by the company's 225 ft. U.S. flag salvage tug, the largest such salvage tug operating under the U.S. flag. The third frigate was towed across the Atlantic Ocean by Donjon's tug Atlantic Salvor, a 6,480 hp ocean tug.

Benefits of fitting CLT propellers include fuel savings of around 10 percent while maintaining the same speed, according to Geneva-based shipowner Cargill International SA, which has recently released consumption figures for two of its Panamax bulk carriers. The 70,000 dwt Powhatan and Paiute had CLT propellers retrofitted in February and March 1998, after Cargill had already benefited from more than two years' first-hand experience of the CLT propeller concept developed by Madrid-based designer Sistemar. Cargill first fitted a CLT propeller to one of its vessels in 1995, the 13,600 dwt orange juice carrier Bebedouro, and subsequently to two Capesize bulk carriers, the 164,000 dwt Cherokee and Comanche, as well as Powhatan and Paiute.

Donjon Marine successfully delivered F/V Cape Fear, a 112 ft. clam dredging vessel, to its owners in New Bedford, Mass. F/V Cape Fear sank in 78 ft. of water while returning from a routine fishing trip south of Martha's Vineyard. When the vessel sank, it rolled over and came to rest on the port side, nearly inverted, on a muddy bottom. Donjon Marine was hired to raise Cape Fear and deliver it to its owners in a safely afloat condition, using crane barges Chesapeake 1000 and Farrell 256. Since the vessel was full of sand it had to be raised on its side with three in. wire slings and towed in those same slings, suspended from the hook of Chesapeake 1000, and brought into the protected waters of Buzzards Bay, where it could be rolled upright.