Page 6: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1972)

Visitors to the Todd-MorAd ceremonies at- tended a cocktail party hosted by Galves- ton Wharves. Charles S. Devoy (2nd from left), port director and general manager, greets guests before taking them on a boat tour of Galveston Harbor.

Todd And MarAd

Expansion Plans— (Continued from page 6) build the new dry dock over the next 12 to 14 months and for fabri- cating, assembling and erecting major components for all types of marine and 'heavy industrial proj- ects, and for servicing offshore drilling equipment.

An immediate usage for this fa- cility could be the conversion of an additional four cargo ships into containerships similar to the nine

Lykes Bros. Steamship Company's vessels currently being converted.

The plans for this follow-on con- version were announced recently by J.T. Lykes Jr., chairman of

Lykes Bros., and will be under- taken as soon as the necessary gov- ernmental approvals are obtained.

Mr. Lykes stated that the ships already converted into combination container/break-bulk vessels have been very successful.

The New Dry Dock

The new dry dock which can al- so serve as a launching facility will be a modified Rennie-type all- welded steel structure with an over- all length of 922 feet and an overall beam of 211 feet. The floating dry dock will have a clearance between wingwalls of 175 feet. The struc- ture will consist of ten individual pontoons tied together with con- tinuous steel wingwalls. The rated capacity will be 90,000 long tons at 12 inches freeboard.

Provision has been made in the design to ultimately increase the clear width between wingwalls to 200 feet and the overall length to 1.412 feet. The rated capacity of the enlarged dock would be 150,000 long tons at a freeboard of 12 inches.

An outstanding feature of the new dry dock will be the ability to use it to launch newly construct- ed ships. Vessels will be construct- ed in a level attitude on land and moved into the dry dock for end launching. Plans for a new ship- building facility at Galveston which will utilize this concept are pres- ently under way.

The New Research Center

The new Maritime Administra- tion-sponsored research center will be devoted to increasing the pro- ductivity of American-flag ship- ping. The center, the second of its kind in the United States—the first one was opened eight months ago at the U.S. Merchant Marine

Academy, Kings Point, N.Y.—will be used to study new technological advances by both the Maritime Ad- ministration and the marine in- dustry before being installed aboard merchant ships.

The Research Center is located in the east end of the Galveston

Division of Todd Shipyards across the ship channel from Galveston.

The facility is comprised of a com- bination of Maritime Administra-

WORLD'S LARGEST FLOATING DRY DOCK—Shown above is the model of the $16 million, 922 foot dry dock Todd has started to build. It will be used for repairs and construction. The area in white is as large as a football field. tion and Todd properties, equip- ment and buildings. The Center can be completely separated from the rest of the shipyard by a high cyclone fence. An additional 24.65 acres of land outside the fence has been leased for the use of the Mari- time Administration. This proper- ty, leased with an option to buy, is now available to be utilized as desired.

The Center will be under the jurisdiction of the Maritime Ad- ministration's assistant administra- tor for research and development,

Marvin Pitkin, through his Office of Maritime Research Centers headed by Berg Paraghamian. The

Center itself will be staffed with a Government management team.

Delma L. Crook has been ap- pointed director of NMRC-Galves- ton and has already assumed his duties at the Center. He is a gradu- ate of the U.S. Merchant Marine

Academy, Kings Point, N.Y., with courses in marine (Continued on next page) * x post graduate

EXISTING CHAIN LINK FENCE

OFFICE BUILDING 75—TON

CRANE

PLANT LAYOUT of the existing Todd shipyard at Galveston showing the location of the new National Maritime Research Center.

The nuclear-ship service facilities will remain even though the NS Savannah has been decommissioned.

The engineering design and de- tails for the dry dock were per- formed by the Galveston office of

Designers and Planners, Inc., a subsidiary of Todd Shipyards Cor- poration.

Several additional advantages are obtained from the use of such a floating dry dock other than for launching. It can be used for re- pair work between launchings and can be moved from one location to another. It can also be used to transfer ships ashore for extensive bottom repair work.

The dry clock will be built at the new Southwest Plant of the

Galveston Division. This facility features unique fabrication capa- bilities that are particularly suited to this type of construction. It is planned to fabricate and launch the individual dry-dock sections completely under cover where two cranes with capacities of 200 tons each are available, affording the capability to make 400-ton lifts.

TODD PROPERTY LINE

LFASFD

EXCLUSION

AREA

MACHINE SHOP

PLATE SHOP

TODD SHIPYARD - GALVESTON DIVISION GUARD SHACK

FACILITIES BUILDING H

NSV ATOMIC SERVANT

STORAGE a

CON-

TAMINATED 8 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News