U.S. Army Building Light Tug Fleet

Orange Shipbuilding Company Inc. has taken deliver of the main engines for the first of four 59'8" tugs that they are building for the U.S. Army. Current expectations call for 12 of the boats to be built at the Texas yard to a design by Corning Townsend of C.T. Marine in Connecticut. Designed to be lifted aboard and transported on a LASH ship using the ships cranes, the boats will be capable of towing LASH barges and general cargo barges in harbour, inland and coastal waters. Powered by a pair of Cummins KTA19-M3 engines generating 640 hp at 1800 RPM the boats will deliver a bollard pull of 30,000 pounds ahead, 15,000 astern and 4,000 sideways. The engines will drive five inch shafts through Twin Disc MG5202 deep case 5.04:1 marine gears turning 58.5X59-inch four-blade bronze Kaplan props in 59-inch Harrington 37 nozzles.

Separate Fernstrum grid coolers will serve both the mains and the Onan/Admiral 55 kw gen sets. The boats will be equipped with USCG approved sewage collection, holding a transfer systems and HVAC system comprised of a Larkin 5T LDH, oily water separator and Nelson Bilge Boy 96504A. There will be a ten horse fire pump and a 1.5 hp. bilge/ballast pump.

Deck equipment includes tow Nabrico 7.5 hp make-up winches, a McElroy 18-inch 10,000 pound@30 fpm aft capstan with H-Bitt, and a McElroy 12-inch 2,000 pound@43 fpm forward capstan. The boat will carry a 500-foot Spectron 12 towing hawser and a Fortress FX125 anchor with 12-feet of chain and 500-feet of 1/2-inch nylon.

Accommodation for four will be provided in one single and one triple cabin, with full galley and shower equipped head. With a beam of 22 feet and a depth of eight feet the boat's hoisting weight, with hoisting gear, is not to exceed 110 long tons. Corning Townsend comments, "The vessels needed to be esentially ocean tug shape to botain the required sea kindliness, since they might be deployed by the LASH ship several miles out at sea. They are also fitted with push knees so that they can better maneuver the LASH barges in congested waterways, rivers and while docking. The very stringent lightship weight limit is not so much a function of maximum allowable draft, but rather staying within the crane capacity of the "mother ship" so that the tug may be deployed to and from the water."

For more information contact:

Robert Roesler
Cummins Southern Plains, Inc
Ph: 409 745-2752
Houston TX

Ralph Thon
Orange Shipbuilding Co. Inc.
Ph: 409 883-6666
Orange, Texas

Corning Townsend
C.T. Marine Ph: 203 831-0405
Connecticut E-mail: ctmarine@netaxis.com
C.T. Marine web site: www.ctmarine.com

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