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Construction begins on US Navy towage and salvage ship
Bollinger Shipyards has started constructing the 10th Navajo-class towing, salvage and rescue vessel (T-ATS) for the US Navy
Its Mississippi Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi, held a ceremony for the start of building work on USNS Muscogee Creek Nation.
T-ATS vessels are replacing the US Navy’s ageing Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ships and Powhatan-class tugboats.
Navajo-class vessels provide oceangoing towage, salvage and rescue capabilities to support naval fleet operations, and are tasked with coming to the aid of stricken vessels. Their general mission capabilities include combat salvage, lifting, towing, retraction of grounded vessels, off-ship fire-fighting and manned diving operations.
Muscogee Creek Nation will be the 10th of these Navajo-class vessels built, but is the fifth of a five-vessel order Bollinger Shipyards has started since it acquired the newbuilding programme in April 2021.
“We are excited to be able to utilise our newly acquired facility in Pascagoula to maximise our mobility and efficiency on the T-ATS programme as we officially kick off construction on the fifth of five T-ATS ships to be built by Bollinger,” said Bollinger Shipyards president and chief executive Ben Bordelon.
“The T-ATS programme is an important part of our expanding portfolio and relationship with the US Navy as we work to support critical fleet modernisation efforts. This programme sustains jobs in both our facilities between Houma and Pascagoula,” said Mr Bordelon.
The Navajo-class is a multi-mission common hull platform that will be deployed to support a range of missions of US Military Sealift Command, such as towing, rescue, salvage, humanitarian assistance, oil spill response and wide-area search and surveillance operations using unmanned underwater and aerial vehicles.
Named for the Muscogee Creek Nation, the 10th T-ATS honours the self-governed native American tribe located in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.
Muscogee Creek Nation is the largest of the federally recognised Muscogee tribes, which is the fourth-largest tribe in the US with more than 86,000 citizens.
Bollinger Shipyards is also constructing USNS Navajo (T-ATS 6), USNS Cherokee Nation (T-ATS 7), USNS Saginaw Ojibwe Anishinabek (T-ATS 8) and USNS Lenni Lenape (T-ATS 9).
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