Self-maintenance Dry Dock Design for USCG

The United States Coast Guard Yard selected JMS Naval Architects to provide engineering services to support the development of an acquisition plan for a floating dry dock to dock various cutters, in particular, the new 360’ Offshore Patrol Cutter. The Coast Guard Yard located on Curtis Bay in Baltimore, MD is the Coast Guard’s sole shipbuilding and major repair facility and has been in operation since 1899. The Yard’s only remaining floating dry dock was decommissioned in 2018.

JMS was tasked with developing a concept design to meet the Yard’s requirements for docking the 4,700 long ton Offshore Patrol Cutter and developing a rough order of magnitude cost estimate broken down by SWBS work groups. The concept phase defined the principal dimensions to provide sufficient lift capacity, stability, and access to the vessel for maintenance. A long service life and self-maintenance were design priorities for the customer. As a result, a pontoon-type floating dry dock, having continuous steel wings spanning a series of detachable pontoons, was selected. The pontoon sections disconnect and float out from under the wing walls so they can be docked by the remaining sections allowing for re-coating and steel renewal of the underwater hull. Other design elements intended to increase the service life include… Read more here.

13 November 2019

JMSnet.com