First new US Navy pilots tug enters service

The new tug, YT 802 Valiant, for operaton in Puget Sound, was handed over to her eager owners in December 2009, and after a shakedown period and crew training was placed into active service in early February 2010.

The design firm reports that the series of new tugs is being built in Tacoma by J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding a sub-contractor to Pacific Tugboat Services of Long Beach, prime contractor for the delivery of the vessels to the Navy. The design was adapted to the Navy Pilots’ needs based on the Z-Tech 6000 hull form originally developed by the designers for the Port of Singapore.

The US Navy tugs will be based in Bremerton and Bangor, Washington, and will perform ship-handling duties for the full range of US Navy surface warships and submarines. For this the tugs are equipped with an array of underwater fendering, as well as the typical resilient style fenders for handling surface ships.
Length Overall – 27.42m
Beam, Moulded – 11.65m
Depth, Moulded – 5.00m
Load Draught, maximum – 4.88m

The propulsion machinery comprises a pair of Caterpillar 3512C, main engines, each rated 1,350 kW (1,810 bhp) at 1,600 rpm, each driving a Schottel Model SRP 1012 steering/propulsion Z-Drive unit, with 2,100 mm diameter fixed pitch propellers. This combination delivered in excess of the predicted performance, providing 42 tonnes (92,500 lbs) bollard pull ahead, 45 tonnes (99,205 lbs.) astern, and a free-running speed of 12.4 knots on trials.

Electrical power on the tugs is delivered by a pair of R.A. Mitchell diesel gen-sets with a John Deere 6068SFM75 prime mover, each rated 130 ekW at 1,800 rpm.

Deck machinery fitted includes a ship-handling hawser winch forward; JonRie Series 210 Assist winch, fitted with 180 metres 600 ft. of 175 mm line. This winch has a brake capacity of 136 tonnes (300,000 lbs), and a line pull/speed rating of 9 tonnes (20,000 lbs) at 53 m/min (175 FPM).