June 15, 1976 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News

Bath Iron Launches Third Ro/Ro Ship- Delivers First To States Steamship Co.

Bath Iron Works Corporation, Bath, Me., the wholly owned shipbuilding subsidiary of Congoleum Corporation, recently launched the third in a series of four rollon/ roll-off ships now under construction for States Steamship Company of San Francisco, Calif.

The roll-on/roll-off ship, which is 684 feet in length with a 102- foot beam, was named the S/S Nevada. It will be the sistership to the Maine, which was delivered in April, and the Arizona. These ro/ro vessels will be operated on trans-Pacific trade routes and were designed to provide the maximum in cargo-carrying flexibility.

When delivered to States, the ships will move cargo from West Coast U.S. ports to the Far East, including containers, automobiles, farm machinery and equipment, and any form of palletized cargo.

The Nevada has a design speed of 23 knots, and the ship is powered by General Electric steam turbines which will generate 37,000 horsepower. In addition to its normal cargo, the ship is designed to carry 12 passengers.

BIW signed the ship construction contract with States in June of 1972. At present, the fourth ship in the program is being erected on building ways in the shipyard and is due to be launched later this year.

The Hon. Howard W. Cannon, U.S. Senator from Nevada, was the principal speaker at the launching ceremony. Other speakers included the Hon. David F. Emery, Congressman from the First District of Maine; Hon. James V.

Day of Maine, vice chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission ; Samuel Wolkow of the Maritime Administration; J.R. Dant, president of States Steamship Company, and John F. Sullivan Jr., president of Bath Iron Works Corporation.

Mrs. Robert L. Gray, wife of the States Line vice president who has been at BIW since the beginning of the ro/ro construction, sponsored the Nevada, and her two daughters-in-law — Mrs.

Robert L. Gray and Mrs. Richard L. Gray—served as joint matrons of honor.

The four States Line ro/ro ships represent an investment of more than $158 million in building costs. All are being funded under the construction-differential subsidy provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936.

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