J. M Martinac Shipbuilding has just launched a new tugboat for British Columbia-based Seaspan Corporation. The event took place on Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway in the early morning hours Saturday. Puget Sound Maritime was there.
M/V 
Seaspan Resolution sports twin 3,000-horsepower EMD 12-710 diesel engines linked to Niigata ZP-41 azimuthing thrusters, producing an estimated bollard pull of 75 tons. She’s 30m (98 ft) long, 12m (40 ft) wide, carries 45,000 gallons of fuel, and will require a crew of four to operate. Her estimated top speed with be 12.5 knots. She was designed by Robert Allan Ltd. of Vancouver, BC.
It was tough to get good pictures in the pre-dawn light (high tide was at about 0640, so the event started at 0600) with my little pocket camera. Here are some of the better ones.
It’s dark out, but the tide is up and she’s ready to slide out of there:
The Z-Drive units, with anodes everywhere:
The bow, draped with bunting.
Lots of folks in attendance despite the earliness of the hour:
The free food and open bar (at 6 am!) probably helped boost attendance.
Speeches were made…
…while launch-prep work continued nearby:
As the sun rose, the tide reached its peak, and only two tasks remained before Seaspan Resolution could launch. In the photo below, a pair of steel straps, the last things holding the boat at the top of the track, are being cut with torches (you can see the sparks in the lower right) while Mrs. Patricia Thorne stands ready with the Champaign bottle.
And moments, later, away she went, sliding almost silently out of the shed and into Foss Waterway. And no, I don’t have any video to show you. Sorry about that. You’ll just have to come to the next one!
If she looks a little uninspiring from this angle, it’s because she’s not finished yet! Her stacks and pilot house need to be installed, and obviously there’s a ton of fitting and finishing to be done.
Here are the pilot house and the stack, along with a couple of professional photographers I know:
And finally, her name and home port along the transom:
[Larger versions of these photographs are available on request.]
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I once attended one of Martinac’s ship launchings where I watched the firm’s employees so proudly show their wives and children what exactly they did to help create the huge tug boat that was being launched. Simultaneously, a Power Point show of previous launchings was airing to which the retired employees were gathered around reliving their days at the shipyard.
I know there were other photgraphers there capturing the event for Martinac, but your description and photos brings the event down to earth for we who wonder what happens at that big boat house across Schuster Parkway
The Martinac boat launchings have been a wonderful experience for me for over thirty years. Ron Karabaich (for the noninitiated the tall photographer in that shot)roped me into taking launching photos from the otherside of the waterway. One time I was up in the bridge tender’s spot on the old Union Pacific bridge taking motion pictures. I am not sure what all you have planned in terms of this website, but a look back would be really cool. Next launching is in May. Then the first navy tug will be lauched in July. Since it looks like it will be at a decent time, maybe we could make it a family affair. Love as always, your devoted Aunt Caroline.