Shipyards are installing JonRie winches on US Navy yard tugs and escort vessels
JonRie InterTech has supplied two sets of deck equipment for the latest tugboats being built for the US Navy and delivered deck technology for a stream of new harbour and escort tugs under construction for commercial operators in the US.
Modutech Marine Inc is building small yard tugs (YTL-815 class) at its shipyard in Tacoma, Washington state to support the US Navy’s new naval warships and boats. These 19-m vessels are being built to Robert Allan Ltd’s RAscal 1800 design with 30 tonnes of bollard pull.
On the bow is a JonRie Series 220 double-drum hawser winch complete with JonRie’s standard render block. The two drums are part of the tug design to assist submarine docking, says JonRie president Brandon Durar. The winch has capacity to spool 120 m of 7-in hawser, a line pull of 7.5 tonnes, a line speed of 9.1 m/s and a brake capacity of 75 tonnes.
On the stern of these tugs will be a Series 421 heavy-duty capstan with a 50 tonnes of bollard capacity. The capstan has a line pull of 7.5 tonnes and a line speed of 9.4 m/s.
Deck machinery is powered and controlled by hydraulics, which includes a hydraulic pump of 21 kW capacity supplied by JonRie and installed in the engineroom.
This pump has a load sensing system, controls, soft start and electronic starter. The controls include a message centre to display any faults the system may have incurred, enabling swift trouble shooting.
JonRie also supplied its standard foot-control system enabling the tug master to operate this double-drum hawser winch hands-free from the wheelhouse. These winches come with a tension readout for each drum to help prevent overload during the tow, says Mr Durar.
JonRie has previously supplied all the deck equipment for the US Navy’s YT 800, YT 802 and 808 class tugs, bringing the total number of tugs to 16 or the entire fleet of the new US Navy YT tugs.
JonRie winches have also been installed or ordered for several new harbour and escort tugs being built in the US for domestic owners. These winches have been deployed on harbour tugs Master Boat Builders is producing for Seabulk at its shipyard in Coden, Alabama, of which three have been delivered.
On the foredeck of Nike and Hermes is a JonRie Series 240 hydraulically driven single-drum winch and on the aft deck is a JonRie Series 500 hydraulically driven double-drum winch. Both have a line pull of 25 tonnes at 30.5 m/s and a brake capacity of 300 tonnes, enabling handling and manoeuvring of ships from both bow and stern.
The Series 240 escort winches have a two-speed Hagglunds motor and a newly designed honey-cone drum, with an increased drum barrel and flange.
JonRie also supplied a Series 240 escort winch to Main Iron Works to install on azimuth stern drive tug Capt. Joseph Bisso, delivered to Bisso Towboat Co January 2022. This winch has a brake strength of 375 tonnes and 152 m of line.
Baltimore-based Vane Brothers’ new harbour tugs, being built at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Maryland to naval architecture from Entech Designs, has JonRie Series 500 hydraulic towing winches.
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