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Norshipco's Floating Drydock Titan' Aids In Tunnel Construction Project
Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. (Norshipco) of Norfolk, Va., recently used its 950- foot floating drydock "Titan" in a unique operation to help in the construction of a new tunnel under the Elizabeth River — in addition to the drydock's normal ship repair function. The Titan has a lifting capacity of 58,000 tons.
The tunnel, to be used by vehicular traffic between Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., is being built in eight sections by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Co., in Corpus Christi, Texas. The 300- foot-long by 40-foot-wide sections are hauled to Norfolk by barge, two at a time at a total weight of 5,500 tons.
In the past, tunnel sections have been launched, similar to new ships, and towed to a construction site under their own buoyancy, but the proximity of the Titan permitted a barge to be used to tow the tunnel sections to the Elizabeth River site.
This was the first time tunnel sections have been transported by barge and the first time a drydock had been used to float the sections.
The two tunnel sections are huge: 300 feet by 40 feet by 40 feet together weighing some 5,500 tons. This was no problem for the Titan, which has a lifting capacity of 58,000 tons.
The barge with the two tunnel sections aboard was floated into the drydock. The drydock was then raised, lifting the barge with the tunnel sections out of the water. The barge was then filled with water, and, when the drydock was re-submerged, the barge sank with it allowing the sealed tunnel sections to float free.
Consideration had been given to sinking the barge directly into the river. But because the sections were side by side on the barge and were of unequal weight, the barge would have rolled as it sank. By sinking the barge in the drydock, the barge's motion was controlled and the tunnel sections were floated without a problem.
With the tunnel sections delivered, the barge was refloated and towed back to Corpus Christi for the next delivery. Each succeeding delivery will be handled in the same way. The first section is scheduled to be sunk into a special trough in February. The tunnel is scheduled for completion in 1988.
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Other stories from January 15, 1983 issue
Content
- Aalborg Vaerft Conducts Tank Tests Of New Cruise Liner Model page: 6
- Thomas Marine Delivers Two 38-Foot Police Patrol Boats page: 8
- Todd Pacific Delivers Guided Missile Frigate Reid To The U.S. Navy page: 8
- Kone And Far East-Levingston In Joint Venture For Crane Manufacturing In Singapore page: 10
- CSSRA Urges Adoption Of Canadian Building Policy page: 10
- Leevac Corporation Names Terry Hardouin Planning Manager page: 10
- Tidewater Marine Buys T1 Vessels From Halter Marine For $33 Million page: 11
- A.S.N.E. PUTTING FIRE POWER TO SEA page: 12
- Elliott Awarded Additional Contract For Thruster Unit page: 15
- Roger Ffooks Appointed European Representative For J.J. Henry Firm page: 15
- Battleship New Jersey Is Recommissioned page: 16
- Norshipco's Floating Drydock Titan' Aids In Tunnel Construction Project page: 16
- Aeroquip Names Manager, Contract Administration, For M a r i n e / M i l i t a r y Products page: 17
- Two Ro/Ro's For Saudi Arabia Dedicated At Kockums, Four-Ship Order Valued At $250 Million page: 17
- Navy Civil Engineering Lab Completes Studies On Future Pier Designs page: 18
- New Marine Insurance Brochure Available From Skuld In Norway page: 18
- Dravo Appoints Three Senior Officials In Its Marine Construction Organization page: 19
- $32.6-Million Title XI Sought For Purchase And Rebuilding Of RO/RO page: 19
- SKF Couplings Described In Free 26-Page Full-Color Brochure page: 19
- Joseph Farrell Selected As New AWO President page: 20
- Navy Awards $1.87-Million Crane Contract To Clyde page: 20
- Ship Model Basin Dedicated At N.Y. State Maritime College page: 20
- New Ferry Contract For Over $1-Million Awarded To Offshore Shipbuilding page: 21
- Lykes Ship Sends Data By Satellite-Phone Hookup page: 21
- Oceans '83 Conference Issues Call For Papers page: 21
- Nichols Brothers Yard Starts Work On 265-Foot Split-Hull Hopper Dredge page: 21
- Ehrenfried Of Metritape Presents Paper At SNAME New England Meeting page: 21
- MAN-B&W Diesel Holds Symposium For West Coast Marine Industry Leaders page: 22
- Bruce D. Smith Elected President Of COMSAT Technology Products page: 22
- MacGregor To Equip 30 Barges, 3 Ships Building In Japan For Paraguay page: 22
- Barber President Named Commissioner Of Pilots page: 35
- Bates To Retire As ACL Chairman At End Of '83, —Koch Named Successor page: 35
- $ 5 . 4 - M i l l i o n Navy Contract A w a r d e d Tracor For SSBN Sonar Systems Services page: 36
- Romanelli Joins Fairhaven M a r i n e As Vice President page: 36
- Kelly Named Vice President Of Lykes Pacific Division page: 37
- M a r A d Offers Report On Shipboard Fuel Handling And Conditioning page: 37
- New 15-100 H.P. Barge Spotters Described In Free Literature page: 37
- Lockheed To Build Prototype Vehicles To*' Destroy Naval Mines page: 38
- Coast Guard Publishes Revised Navigation Rules page: 39
- Johnson & Towers Named Alco Diesel Distributor —Literature Offered page: 39
- ASNE Southern New England Discusses Sub Combat Systems page: 41
- MarAd Approves Crowley Acquisition Of Delta Steamship Stock For $96 Million page: 42
- LTI Introduces New System For M o v i n g Ship Sections —Literature A v a i l a b le page: 43
- SNAME-Philadelphia Section Hears Paper On Marine Epoxy Resin Chocks page: 44
- Trellclean Conducts Technical Briefing And Hull-Cleaning Demonstration page: 44
- Uniflite Announces Three Executive Appointments page: 45
- Deep-Notch Tug And Barge Delivered To Energy Transportation page: 45
- Jackup Rig "Sam Noble" Is Christened At Levingston page: 46
- New USCG Pollution Prevention Requirements Effective October 2 page: 46
- Stone Manganese Offers Technical Reports On Fuel Economy And Propellers page: 48
- Burton Delivers 224-Foot Seiner, Sixth Of Seven Foir Van Camp page: 48
- Pan-American Naval Engineers To Hold 1983 Meeting in D.C. page: 48
- Paceco Delivers Railmounted Transtainer Crane To U.S. Army page: 53
- Hoffert Manufacturing Awards Caribbean Cruise At SNAME Exposition page: 58
- Nome Seeks $38.5-Million For Proposed Year-Round Port page: 58
- Bay Shipbuilding Retains W i l l i am Thompson As Washington Representative page: 59
- Bulk Carrier Karnataka Undergoes Repairs, Modernization At HUD page: 59
- Dravo Launches Coastal Hopper Barge For C.G. Willis page: 59