Page 44: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2006)

44 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

Circle 280 on Reader Service Card

This third ship is named the USNS

Alan Shepard in honor of the first

American in space, Rear Admiral Alan

B. Shepard Jr. Shepard piloted the

Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961, the first manned launch of Project

Mercury, the NASA program that deter- mined man's capabilities in a space envi- ronment.

Circle 20 on Reader Service Card

Navy Dive Boat gets

UltraJet Propulsion

In December 2005 a new UltraJet powered Tornado Dive RIB complying with SOLAS regulations was accepted by the Portuguese Navy. The Navy will use the RIB for diver deployment and logistic support.

The 27.8 ft. (8.5 m) RIB is powered by a single UltraJet 251 waterjet driven by a Steyr MO256K43 250 hp/184 kW diesel engine at 4,300 rpm with a ZF63 gearbox, ratio 1.25:1. During sea trials, speeds of 31 knots were recorded.

The Tornado hull is designed to be extremely sturdy, with a deep V hull and an arched, sheer bow, preventing con- trary sea to flood the boat. It is designed to climb quickly onto the plane, to sup- port quick turns and achieves high direc- tional stability at fast speed and in rugged seas. The RIB can carry 12 divers and their diving equipment.

Circle 23 on Reader Service Card

Bollinger to Build 28,000

BBL DH Tank Barge

Bollinger Marine Fabricators, LLC, (BMF) Amelia, La., signed a contract with Progressive Barge Line, Inc., New

Orleans, La. for the construction of a double hull OPA '90 Lakes, Bays and

Sounds tank barge. Bollinger hull #505 will have capacity of 28,000 barrels (BBL) and is a near sister ship to four similar hulls also under construction at the active BMF facility for another oper- ator. Elliot Bay Design Group per- formed the design and engineering package in support of Bollinger.

Hull #505 will be built primarily for bunkering services on the Mississippi

River and throughout the port of New

Orleans. The barge will be built in accordance with ABS rules and certified by USCG for rivers, lakes, bays and sounds service for carriage of Grade A products and below. It will be subdivid- ed into six cargo tanks, each with pipe coils for heating cargo. The heater sys- tem will be a four million BTU Hopkins

Volcanic, with two inch piping coils lin- ing the bottom of each cargo tank for optimum heat distribution.

Mission Marine Delivers to St. Croix

Mission Marine recently delivered the

Mission 452, a 34.8 x 13 ft. (10.6 x 4 m)

Pilot House to the Department of

Planning and Natural Resources located in Frederiksted on the island of St.

Croix, USVI. Custom made to accom- modate the DPNR's special and varied usage requirements, she was chosen because of her multi-mission platform, stability, extraordinarily smooth ride, offshore capabilities, and ability to take rough seas. Given the climate of the islands, she has a fully enclosed pilot- house with air conditioning and has state-of-the-art electronics to assist the officers.

Circle 26 on Reader Service Card

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Carol M. Pottenger,

Commander, Military Sealift Fleet Support

Command, was the honoree for the keel-laying event, welding her initials into the keel of the T-

AKE 3, the USNS Alan Shepard. With her are

Dave Morton, Program Manager, Naval Fleet

Auxiliary Force Program (L) and Art Diaz, MSC

Ship Construction Senior Owners

Representative.

MR MARCH2006 #6 (41-48).qxd 3/2/2006 12:07 PM Page 44