Page 26: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1980)

USCG Cutter Contract Spurs $4-Million

Expansion At Tacoma Boatbuilding

With construction underway on four newly designed W-MEC 270- foot cutters for the U.S. Coast

Guard, Tacoma Boatbuilding Co. has expedited completion of a new 8.6-acre shipyard near its two oth- er main yards on Puget Sound's

Commencement Bay. "We broke ground for the new yard in April 1978, and were burning steel for the first cutter in six months," reported Robert

M. Hill, vice president, marketing, for the long-established North- west firm. "A capital investment of over $4 million put us right on our production schedule — the first hull is almost complete, the second is 45 percent complete, and we've started cutting steel for the third."

The contract for the four me- dium endurance cutters started out at $110 million and has in- creased to $130 million through change orders, with a substantial additional increase due to escala- tion, Mr. Hill said.

Enclosed steel fabricating shops account for 50,400 square feet of the new facility, according to yard manager Gus Lange. An addition- al 3,000 square feet houses yard administration and engineering li- aison. Two 35-ton whirleys flank the two 448-foot-long, 116-foot- wide launching ways. Way foun- dations are 12-foot-thick concrete poured over an existing bed and pilings from World War II ways on the old Todd-Pacific shipyard site.

Major new equipment includes a CM-100 numerically controlled plasma arc burning/cutting ma- chine, a company-built 300-ton hydraulic press, a 750-ton Pacific hydraulic press brake, and an

Erie pyramid plate bending roll.

The plasma arc cutter works over two tables, each of which accom- modates two 10-foot by 40-foot plates for the simultaneous cut- ting of left and right mirror- image shapes.

Additional facility revisions for company management and a 200- man engineering staff are cur- rently underway.

At Tacoma Boat's other yards, work continues on several 245-foot gunboats for the U.S. Navy and 140-foot icebreaking tugs for the

U.S. Coast Guard.

Although current emphasis is on military and marine transpor- tation needs, Mr. Hill sees Tacoma

Boat's expanded capabilities pay- ing off for the fishing industry as well. "Fishermen tell me that to be successful tomorrow, trawlers as large as 300 feet and boats with much more onboard processing equipment will be a necessity rather than a luxury," Mr. Hill said.

Tacoma Boat's half-century of experience actually started with salmon trollers in the 1930s. Since then, the firm has constructed vessels of all types—including the free world's largest (258-foot) tuna superseiner, ice-class tug- boats, coastal tugs, a large semi- submersible offshore drilling rig, and patrol boats and combat ves- sels for allied navies around the globe.

CM-100 numerically controlled plasma arc burning/cutting machine. Shown here, is the cutting of the "chocks and brackets" for the CGC Tampa, the second of four cutters under contract. It is scheduled for delivery in March 1982.

A medium endurance cutter currently under construction at Tacoma Boat.

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