Chesapeake 1000 Explained

Chesapeake 1000 (formerly Sun 800) is a heavy lift sheerleg crane ship, owned by Donjon Marine Co., capable of lifting 1000ST.[1] [2] It is one of the largest boomable stiff-leg-derrick barges on the eastern seaboard of the United States.

The barge measures 191feet long, with a beam of 101feet; its draft is 20feet.[3]

Since late March 2024, it has been involved in salvage efforts at Baltimore, following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.

History

The crane barge was built by Kelso Marine in Galveston, Texas[4] for Sun Shipbuilding in 1972 at a cost of nearly $5 million. At the time, it was the largest crane ship in the world.[5] The crane was initially able to lift 800ST, and so was named Sun 800.

In 1982, Sun's parent, the Sun Oil Company, sold Sun Shipbuilding to Ed Paden, who renamed the business to Pennsylvania Shipbuilding (Penn Ship);[6] yard assets were renamed similarly, and the crane was renamed Penn 800. While en-route to Puerto Rico in the mid-1980s, the derrick barge was caught in a hurricane and the original boom was lost; it was replaced with a boom measuring long (heel to jib) and the main fall block was upgraded to a 35-ton unit,[7] which increased the lifting capacity to and the vessel was renamed Penn 1000.[8] [9] Tim Colton, who was the Vice President of Marketing for Penn Ship, stated the engineers originally had designed the crane to be upgraded to 1000 tons; however, after the upgrade, it sat idle most of the time, so the crane was moved to the busier Port of Norfolk, Virginia and renamed Chesapeake 1000.[10]

In 1989, the United States Navy acquired a preferred mortgage on the floating crane as a performance guarantee for a contract to build five oil tankers, which had been awarded in 1984. After Penn Ship was unable to complete the contract, the crane barge was sold to Maritime Capital Corp, which subsequently sold it to Donjon, but the transfer was complicated by the pre-existing Navy encumbrance. The Navy released Penn Ship from its obligations in 1992,[11] [12] and it was renamed to its current name, Chesapeake 1000, after the acquisition was completed by Donjon Marine in 1993.[13]

Operations

Sun 800 was built for heavy lifts, specifically the gimbal platforms and bearings,[14] during the construction of Glomar Explorer, which was the centerpiece of Project Azorian, a CIA project that aimed to recover Soviet submarines during the Cold War.[15] In 1975, Sun 800 was used to recover the tugboat Saratoga from the Delaware River,[16] which had sunk after being rammed by the ship it was towing.[17] By 1978, the heaviest lift recorded by Sun 800 was a deckhouse.[18] In 1979, it was used to help raise the stricken barge Elizabeth Turner. Sun 800 was used for heavy lifts during the demolition of the central vertical lift spans of the CRRNJ Newark Bay Bridge in 1981, removing of steel in one week.[19]

Under Donjon, which was based in Hillside, Pennsylvania, it removed a derelict steel trestle railroad bridge to Petty Island in 1991. The Chesapeake 1000 participated in the 1996 salvage of the Irving Whale. After relocating its home port to Port Newark, it also has assisted in the 2016 construction of a laboratory building for Rockefeller University, and lifted and landed seven units to create a, single-story platform for New York Hospital in 1995. In 2016, Chesapeake 1000 was used to recover the tug Specialist, which sank in the Hudson River on March 12, killing three.[20]

Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Chesapeake 1000 and Weeks 533 were dispatched to the Port of Baltimore;[21] they will be used first to clear several sections of the wrecked bridge and establish a temporary shipping channel, then to remove the bridge sections pinning, and finally to remove the remaining bridge trusses outside the temporary channel. On March 30, 2024, the first section of the bridge was lifted.[22]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Nadine . Yousif . Baltimore bridge: Massive US crane to haul wreckage after deadly collapse . April 1, 2024 . . March 29, 2024.
  2. Web site: The Biggest Crane Barge on the Baltimore Bridge Project has a CIA Past . The Maritime Executive . April 1, 2024 . March 31, 2024.
  3. Web site: Post . Nadine M. . 2017-03-21 . Floating Crane on Job in NYC's East River Has a Storied Past of Cold War Intrigue . 2024-04-03 . . en.
  4. Web site: West Gulf Marine . January 28, 2021 . Shipbuilding History . 10 April 2024.
  5. News: Rossi . Frank . The costly rescue of a wrecked ship . April 3, 2024 . . November 11, 1979 . . subscription.
  6. Web site: Sun Ship: Vessels of Progress . John C. . Schmidt III . Fall 2010 . Pennsylvania Center for the Book . 10 April 2024.
  7. Donjon equipment up to the task . Fall 2007 . 2 . 1 . Donjon Marine . DONJON In-Depth . 4 . 11 April 2024.
  8. News: Altman . Howard . Mighty crane tackles tough demolition job . April 3, 2024 . . December 5, 1991 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: Crane Linked to CIA Soviet Sub Mission Now on Station at Key Bridge Collapse . Heather . Mongilio . March 29, 2024 . USNI News . . 10 April 2024.
  10. Book: Colton, Tim . Staying Afloat: A Life in Shipbuilding . 12: PENNSYLVANIA: DEVELOPING THE BUSINESS . 107–116 . 2008 . Maritime Business Strategies, LLC . Delray Beach, Florida.
  11. 255 . F.Supp.2d . 351 . . 2002 . United States v. Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. . https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/255/351/2562652/.
  12. 473 . F.3d . 506 . United States vs. Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. . 2007 . . https://casetext.com/case/us-v-shipbuilding.
  13. News: Ben . Finley . 2024-04-03 . Chessy: The crane at the centre of the Maryland bridge clean-up and its CIA history . 2024-04-03 . . en.
  14. Engineering for AZORIAN . Fall 1978 . Studies in Intelligence . 22 . 3 . Central Intelligence Agency . 10 April 2024.
  15. News: Rosenzweig-Ziff . Dan . Somasundaram . Praveena . 2024-04-01 . A crane with Cold War CIA origins will help the Baltimore bridge cleanup . 2024-04-03 . . en-US . 0190-8286.
  16. News: Winds halt efforts to raise tugboat . Robert . Market . Courier-Post . Camden, New Jersey . 57 . December 19, 1975 . 10 April 2024 . . subscription.
  17. News: River Open After Crash . AP . December 10, 1975 . The New York Times . 10 April 2024.
  18. Report on Survey of U.S. Shipbuilding and Repair Facilities . 16 . . 1978 . 10 April 2024.
  19. Project No. BRM-7543(2): Cochrane Bridge Replacement, City of Mobile, Mobile County Administration Action: Final Environmental Impact Statement . 185 . March 17, 1982 . Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation . Another alternative is one which was used in the summer of 1981 to remove two 299-foot long vertical lift spans on a railroad bridge that connected Bayonne and Elizabeth, New Jersey (Civil Engineering Magazine, September, 1981). [...] The Sun 800, the largest barge-mounted crane on the East Coast completed the job in only seven days. [...] A total of 4,500 tons of steel was removed..
  20. News: Tugboat crash: Recovery underway . Matt . Spillane . March 21, 2016 . . 10 April 2024.
  21. Unified Command continues Key Bridge Response 2024 . March 29, 2024 . . 11 April 2024.
  22. News: Plans to open Baltimore temporary channel . April 1, 2024 . WorkBoat . 11 April 2024.

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