Type C8-class ships are a type of Heavy Lift Barge Carrier. Type C8 ships were the 8th type of ship designed by the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

(MARCOM) in the late 1960s. As done with the

Type C1 ship Type C1 was a designation for small cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original ...

s and

Type C2 ship Type C2 ships were designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in 1937–38. They were all-purpose cargo ships with five holds, and U.S. shipyards built 328 of them from 1939 to 1945. Compared to ships built before 1939, the C2s w ...

s, MARCOM circulated preliminary plans for comment. The design presented was not specific to any service or

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sin ...

. Type C8 ships measuring from stem to stern, and designed to make .

Design

The Type C8 ships are a type of Heavy

Lighter aboard ship The lighter aboard ship (LASH) system refers to the practice of loading barges (lighters) aboard a bigger vessel for transport. It was developed in response to a need to transport lighters, a type of (usually but not always) unpowered barge, be ...

. The lighter aboard ship or ''LASH'' is a system for loading

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

s or (

lighters A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or c ...

) onto a large vessel for

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipel ...

. At the destination, the barge are unloaded and the vessel is then free to move on to the next shipment. Barges and lighters are usually unpowered floating platforms for

inland waterway A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against dir ...

s that are separated from the open

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

s. Barge and lighters are typically towed or pushed around

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

s or

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

s by

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s. The carrier ships are also known as LASH carriers, barge carriers, kangaroo ships and lighter transport ships. Barges are load into the ship from the rear-

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

of the ship. Two barge-lighters weighing up to 1,000 metric tons placed onto an underwater platform. The ship raises the platform up to the deck. On the deck are special rails to move the lighters down the length of the ship to their holding spot. The ship as a loading power to lift with a force of more than 2,000 Mp.

MARAD Design C8-S-81b

In the late 1960s, shipbuilding engineer Jerome L. Goldman designed the first LASH ships the Acadia Forest and the Atlantic Forest. Avondale shipyard start construction in 1969 of the second LASH ships the C8-S-81b. The eleven C8-S-81b LASH ships were of identical design and built from 1970 to 1973. The 11 ships were used by two shipping lines Prudential Grace Line in New York and Pacific Far East Line in San Francisco. The price for each ship was $21.3 million.

Ships in type

Avondale Industries Avondale Shipyard was an independent shipbuilding company, acquired by Litton Industries, in turn acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. In 2011, along with the former Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard was part of Huntington Ingalls Industries. It c ...

built eleven C8-S-81b at 29,820 DWT each in 1970 - 1971 for the

Grace Line W. R. Grace and Co. is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes catalysts and related products and technologies ...

. Example is the SS ''Lash Turkiye''. *

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. In ...

General Dynamics Corporation General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Un ...

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...

built three C8-S-82a at 20,574 DWT each in 1972. The three built for the

Lykes Brothers Steamship Company Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States. History In 1898 the sons of Dr. Howell Tys ...

: SS ''Doctor Lykes'', SS ''Almeria Lykes'' and SS ''Tillie Lykes''. *

Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard Maryland Steel, in Sparrows Point, Maryland, US, was founded in 1887. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed as the Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries I ...

built two C8-S-85d at 27,340 DWT each in 1979. The ''Austral Pioneer'' and ''Austral Puritan'' for the

Farrell Lines Farrell Lines Incorporated was a boat company named in 1948 after James A. Farrell, Jr., and John J. Farrell, sons of James Augustine Farrell, president of US Steel. The company was previously known as American South African Lines (ASAL). It was ...

US Navy Cape M Class Heavy Lift Barge Carrier

C8-S-82a were used by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and called seabee LASH, (Lighter aboard ship). * SS ''Cape May'' (T-AKR-5063) - Built as SS ''Almeria Lykes'' C8-S-82a * SS ''Cape Mohican'' (T-AKR-5065) built as the SS ''Tillie Lykes'' C8-S-82a * SS ''Cape Mendocino'' (T-AKR-5064) - Built as SS ''Doctor Lykes'' C8-S-82a. In October 2011 she was moved to the

James River Reserve Fleet The James River Reserve Fleet (JRRF) is located on the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia at () near Fort Eustis. James River Reserve Fleet, a "ghost fleet,", is part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. The Reserve Fleet ships in ...

to the Beaumont Reserve Fleet to the

Beaumont Reserve Fleet The Beaumont Reserve Fleet, was established by act of Congress in 1946, as a component of the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF). The fleet is located in Beaumont, Texas. History In 1946, the US Government excavated 24 million cubic yards of ...

Lash Lighter Basin

In San Francisco, California is Lash Lighter Basin, located by

Heron's Head Park Heron's Head Park is a public park in San Francisco, California; maintained by the San Francisco Port Authority The Port of San Francisco is a semi-independent organization that oversees the port facilities at San Francisco, California, Un ...

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, California, San Jose, and Oakland, Ca ...

. The Lash Lighter Basin at

Bayview–Hunters Point, San Francisco Bayview–Hunters Point (sometimes spelled Bay View or Bayview) is the San Francisco, California, neighborhood combining the Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods in the southeastern corner of the city. The decommissioned Hunters Point Naval S ...

is a protected port that is used by C8-class ships for loading and unloading lighter-barges. Barges from the

Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel California’s Green Trade Corridor, is part of the Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel also called the Baldwin-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel or Stockton Deep Water Channel is a manmade deepwater water ...

Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel The Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel (also known as Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel or SRDWSC) is a canal from the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento, California, to the Sacramento River, which flows into San Francisco Bay. It was ...

and

Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta The Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, or California Delta, is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in Northern California. The Delta is formed at the western edge of the Central Valley by the confluence of the Sacramento and San ...

are taken to Lash Lighter Basin. The Lash Lighter Basin is located at .

Notable incident

* On May 21, 2001, the SS Cape Mohican (T-AKR 5065) was participating in an exercise at Chilpo Beach, just north of

Pohang Pohang () is a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River. The city is divided into two ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. While in the harbor, heavy winds caused her to drag anchor approximately 150 feet and run aground on rocks, causing damage to her hull and internal tanks. This damage required salvage work and emergency dry-docking along with 1500 tons of steel to make her seaworthy again

Type C9 ships

In 1980 Avondale Industries built two 41,500 DWT Type C9-S-81f barge carriers: the SS ''Edward Rutledge'' (now SS ''Spirit'' and the SS ''Edward Rutledge'' (Now SS ''Reliance''). In 1974-75 Avondale Industries built nine 41,000 DWT C9-S-81d barge carriers, some used by the US Navy. C9-S-81d examples are the

SS Delta Norte SS ''Cape Flattery'' (AK-5070) was laid down on 10 February 1972, as SS ''Delta Norte'' a Maritime Administration type (C9-S-81d) hull under United States Maritime Administration, Maritime Administration contract (MA 259) at Avondale Industries ...

and the

SS Delta Mar SS ''Cape Farewell'' (AK-5073) was laid down in 1973, as SS ''Delta Mar'', a Maritime Administration type (C9-S-81d) hull under Maritime Administration contract (MA 259) at Avondale Industries Corp., New Orleans, LA. She launched and delivered t ...

built in 1971. In 1980-83 Avondale Industries also built three C9-M-132b, but these are 32,800 DWT

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

s built for the American President Line: ''President Washington'' (now M/V ''Manoa''), ''President Lincoln'' (now M/V ''Mahimahi'') and ''President Monroe'' (now M/V ''Mokihana'').SS Cape Fear (AK-5061) C9
''navsource.org''

Design C8-S-81b ships

Design C8-S-82a ships

References

{{ModernMerchantShipTypes Auxiliary ship classes of the United States Navy