USNS Narragansett (T-ATF-167) is a Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugboat of the US Navy. She was launched in 1979 and inactivated in 1999, but has since been employed in a number of roles. She is still in service as of 2023 as a training support vessel for Carrier Strike Group 4.
The ship was laid down on 5 May 1977 by the Marinette Marine Corp. of Marinette, Wisconsin. Narragansett was launched on 12 May 1979, and delivered to the Navy on 9 November 1979.
Her hull was built of welded steel plates. She is 225feet 11inches (68.86m) long at the waterline and 240feet 1inch (73.18m) overall, with a beam of 42 feet (13m), and a draft of 15 feet (4.6m). She displaces 2,260 tons fully loaded.[1]
As originally built, Narragansett had two controllable-pitchKort-nozzle propellers for propulsion. She had two 20-cylinder Diesel engines, GM EMD 20-645F7B,[2] which provided 4,500 shaft horsepower. These would drive the ships at 15 knots. She also had a 300-horsepower bow thruster to improve maneuverability.[1][3]
Electrical power aboard the ship was provided by three 400 Kw generators. These were powered by three Detroit Diesel 8v-71 engines.[2]
Powhatan-class tugs had global range in order to support the U.S. fleet across oceans. Narragansett's tankage was consequently large. She can carry 206,714 U.S. gallons (782,500L) of Diesel oil, 6,100 U.S. gallons (23,000L) of lube oil, and 6,000 U.S. gallons (23,000L) of drinking water.[2] Her unrefueled range at 13 knots was 10,000 miles (16,000km)[1]
Narragansett under construction in 1978
Narragansett's aft deck is largely open to accommodate a number of different roles. It offers 4,000 square feet (370m2) of working space.[4] One of the missions of a fleet tug was to tow damaged warships back to port. She is equipped with a SMATCO 66 DTS-200 towing winch for service as a towboat.[2] The towing system can accommodate either wire rope or synthetic-fiber hawsers and produce as much as 90 short tons of bollard pull.[5][6][4] She has a 10-ton capacity crane for moving loads on the aft deck.[3] There were connections to bolt down shipping containers and other equipment.
Like all MSC ships, Narragansett was crewed by civilian mariners. At launch, her complement was 16 civilian crew and a 4-person military detachment of communications specialists. The ships could accommodate an additional 16 people aboard for transient, mission-specific roles.[1][3]
All the ships of the Powhatan-class were named after Native American tribes.[6]Narragansett was named after the Narragansett people, which had their historical center in the Rhode Island area.
Military Sealift Command service (1979—1999)
Narragansett was harassed by Soviet ships, including this guided missile cruiser, while searching for the wreckage of Korean Airlines Flight 007.
Narragansett was dispatched from Pusan, South Korea to assist in the search for the black box flight recorders of the downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in the Fall of 1983. Special electronic equipment was embarked to listen for the beacon signals produced by the flight recorders, as well as a deep-diving remotely controlled submersible. The tug was harassed by Soviet ships while executing her search patterns and was ultimately unsuccessful in recovering the flight recorders.[7]
Narragansett towed the Ocean Construction Platform Seacon from Panama to San Diego in July 1984.[9]
Narragansett rescued a family of six who had been drifting helplessly in a small sailboat for 32 days near Hawaii in October 1988.[10]
Narragansett tows ex-Missouri out of Long Beach Harbor in 1992
In 1990 she assisted in the investigation of another aircraft incident. Nine people were killed when the cargo door of United Airlines Flight 811 blew off shortly after the plane took off from Hawaii. The door fell into the sea and a search was initiated to find this important piece of evidence. Narragansett laid out a grid of eight transponders on the sea bed which were used to chart the movements of a Navy submersible hunting for the door.[11]Narragansett also searched the area with an Orion side-scan sonar system which was embarked for this mission.[12]
The ship was placed out of service on 18 October 1999, and assigned to the inactive reserve. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 June 2002,[16] and technically became the property of the U.S. Maritime Administration.[17]Narragansett was loaned by her new owner back to the Navy on 2 August 2002.[16]
In March 2015, Narragansett towed ex-Tripoli through the Panama Canal to be stored with the Beaumont Reserve Fleet.[23]
Carrier Strike Group 4 service (2016—present)
TSV-4 Narragansett during a training exercise in 2019
By 2016, Narragansett had been assigned to the training support vessel squadron of Carrier Strike Group 4[16][24] and is now based at JEB Little Creek.[25] Her role is to provide realistic training scenarios for Navy and Marine units about to deploy.[26]
Narragansett was reclassified from a fleet ocean tug (ATF) to a boat in 2009. While she retained her name, her hull number was changed from T-ATF-167 to 226NS7901.[16] Boats do not typically display their hull numbers on their bows. Narragansett displays "TSV-4" on her bow today, a locally-assigned pennant number.
Civilian mariners have continued to crew the ship, and private contractors have continued to operate and maintain her. PAE Applied Technologies, LLC was the first, while two other contractors ran the other ships in the training support vessel squadron.[27] On 9 March 2018 Great Eastern Group, Inc. was awarded a contract to crew, maintain, and operate all the ships of the training support vessel squadron.[28][29] On 12 April 2021 Great Eastern Group was awarded a new five-year contract for all the ships in the squadron, including Narragansett.[26]
Narragansett underwent $7.6 million of maintenance in a Norfolk, Virginia shipyard in 2017.[30] In June 2022, Lyon Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia won a $13.5 million contract for maintenance. The work was expected to be complete by April 2023.[31]
Honors and awards
Narragansett and her crew earned a number of honors and awards during her service. These include:[32]
USS Mississippi (CGN-40), a Virginia-class nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state admitted to the Union. Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia, on 22 February 1975. She was launched on 31 July 1976. The ship was commissioned on 5 August 1978 by Jimmy Carter, then serving as the 39th president of the United States. Early deployment included escorting the carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). She also was deployed in 1989 as a response to the capture and subsequent murder of U.S. Marine Corps Colonel William R. Higgins by terrorists.
Six ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Powhatan or USNS Powhatan, named in honor of Powhatan (1550–1618), an Indian chief in tidewater Virginia; the father of Pocahontas.
USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52) is a Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship, the second United States Navy ship of that name.
USS Atakapa (ATF-149) was an Achomawi class of fleet ocean tug. It was named after the Atakapa Native American tribe that once inhabited territory which is now southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.
USS Cree (AT/ATF-84), a Cherokee-class fleet tug, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the Cree, an indigenous people of North America whose people range from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.
Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) is an American shipbuilding firm in Marinette, Wisconsin. Marinette Marine was a subsidiary of Manitowoc Marine Group of Wisconsin from 2000 to 2009, when it was sold to Fincantieri Marine Group.
USNS Contender (T-AGOS-2) was a Stalwart-class Modified Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ship of the United States Navy. Now known as the T/S General Rudder, the ship serves as the primary training vessel of Texas A&M Maritime Academy. Texas A&M has operated the vessel since 2012.
USNS Catawba is a Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command for the United States Navy. It is currently based in Manama, Bahrain. It was launched in 1979 and is the last ship of its class still in service. In December 2020, the Navy announced its intention to retire Catawba during fiscal year 2023.
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USS Narragansett (AT-88) was a Navajo-class fleet tug constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. Her purpose was to aid ships, usually by towing, on the high seas or in combat or post-combat areas, plus "other duties as assigned." She served in the Atlantic Ocean and, at war’s end, returned home with three battle stars to her credit.
USNS Apache (T-ATF-172) was a U.S. Navy Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugboat that was operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) from 1981 to 2022. She spent the bulk of her career in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
USNS Mohawk (T-ATF-170) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command from 1980 to 2005.
USS Papago (ATF-160) was an Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug built for the United States Navy during World War II, and named for the American Indian tribe of the Piman family that formerly lived south and southeast of the Gila River in Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora.
USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command which was in service from 1980 to 2016. She spent the bulk of her career in the Pacific and is currently moored in Pearl Harbor, awaiting disposal.
USNS Powhatan (T-ATF-166) was the lead ship of the United States Navy Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugboats. She was in service with the U.S. Navy from 1979 to 1999, and then was leased to a private towing and salvage company. At the end of the lease in 2008, the ship was sold to the Turkish Navy which recommissioned her as TCG Inebolu.
USNS Sioux (T-ATF-171) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC). She was in service from 1981 to 2021 and spent the bulk of this time supporting the Pacific Fleet.
The Powhatan class of fleet ocean tugs consists of seven ships built for the United States Navy, and operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC). The lead ship of the class was launched in 1978 and the last ship in MSC service will be deactivated in 2023. During their service life, the Powhatan's were the most powerful tugs owned by the Navy.
The third USS Kiowa (AT-72), later ATF-72, was a fleet tug, later fleet ocean tug, that served in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1972.
The Navajo class is a class of Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ships for the Military Sealift Command of the United States Navy. They were ordered in 2017 as the planned replacement for the aging Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ships and Powhatan-class tugboats. A total of ten ships of the class have been planned and none have yet to be put in service.
References
1 2 3 4 Polmar, Norman (1997). Ships and Aircraft of the United States Fleet (16thed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p.252. ISBN1-55750-686-8.
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