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USNS ''Narragansett'' (T-ATF-167) is a Powhatan-class tugboat, ''Powhatan''-class fleet ocean tugboat of the US Navy. She was launched in 1979 and inactivated in 1999, but has since been employed in a number of roles. She is still in service as of 2023 as a training support vessel for Commander Strike Force Training Atlantic, Carrier Strike Group 4.
''Narragansett's'' aft deck is largely open to accommodate a number of different roles. It offers of working space. One of the missions of a fleet tug was to tow damaged warships back to port. She is equipped with a SMATCO 66 DTS-200 towing winch for service as a towboat. The towing system can accommodate either wire rope or synthetic-fiber hawsers and produce as much as 90 short tons of bollard pull. She has a 10-ton capacity crane for moving loads on the aft deck. There were connections to bolt down shipping containers and other equipment.
Like all MSC ships, ''Narragansett'' was crewed by civilian mariners. At launch, her complement was 16 civilian crew and a 4-person military detachment of communications specialists. The ships could accommodate an additional 16 people aboard for transient, mission-specific roles.
All the ships of the ''Powhatan''-class were named after Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes. ''Narragansett'' was named after the Narragansett people, Narragansett people, which had their historical center in the Rhode Island area.
''Narragansett'' was dispatched from Busan, Pusan, South Korea to assist in the search for the black box flight recorders of the downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in the Fall of 1983. Special electronic equipment was embarked to listen for the beacon signals produced by the flight recorders, as well as a deep-diving remotely controlled submersible. The tug was harassed by Soviet Navy, Soviet ships while executing her search patterns and was ultimately unsuccessful in recovering the flight recorders.
In April 1984 the ship assisted in refloating USS Barbour County, USS ''Barbour County'' which was beached at the Silver Strand Training Complex, Silver Strand Amphibious Boat Area in Coronado, California.
Narragansett towed the Ocean Construction Platform ''Seacon'' from Panama to San Diego in July 1984.
''Narragansett'' rescued a family of six who had been drifting helplessly in a small sailboat for 32 days near Hawaii in October 1988.In 1990 she assisted in the investigation of another aircraft incident. Nine people were killed when the cargo door of United Airlines Flight 811 blew off shortly after the plane took off from Hawaii. The door fell into the sea and a search was initiated to find this important piece of evidence. ''Narragansett'' laid out a grid of eight transponders on the sea bed which were used to chart the movements of a Navy submersible hunting for the door. ''Narragansett'' also searched the area with an Orion side-scan sonar system which was embarked for this mission.
The ship accompanied USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169), USNS ''Navajo'' as she towed USS New Jersey (BB-62), ex-''New Jersey'' from Long Beach, California, Long Beach to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington in April 1991.
In 1992, ''Narragansett'' towed USS Midway (CV-41), ex-''Midway'' from San Diego, and USS Missouri (BB-63), ex-''Missouri'' from Long Beach to Bremerton, Washington.
The ship was placed out of service on 18 October 1999, and assigned to the inactive reserve. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 June 2002, and technically became the property of the United States Maritime Administration, U.S. Maritime Administration. ''Narragansett'' was loaned by her new owner back to the Navy on 2 August 2002.
By 2016, ''Narragansett'' had been assigned to the training support vessel squadron of Carrier Strike Group 4 and is now based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story, JEB Little Creek. Her role is to provide realistic training scenarios for Navy and Marine units about to deploy.
''Narragansett'' was reclassified from a fleet ocean tug (ATF) to a boat in 2009. While she retained her name, her hull number was changed from T-ATF-167 to 226NS7901. Boats do not typically display their hull numbers on their bows. ''Narragansett'' displays "TSV-4" on her bow today, a locally assigned pennant number.
Civilian mariners have continued to crew the ship, and private contractors have continued to operate and maintain her. PAE Applied Technologies, LLC was the first, while two other contractors ran the other ships in the training support vessel squadron. On 9 March 2018 Great Eastern Group, Inc. was awarded a contract to crew, maintain, and operate all the ships of the training support vessel squadron. On 12 April 2021 Great Eastern Group was awarded a new five-year contract for all the ships in the squadron, including ''Narragansett''.
''Narragansett'' underwent $7.6 million of maintenance in a Norfolk, Virginia shipyard in 2017. In June 2022, Lyon Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia won a $13.5 million contract for maintenance. The work was expected to be complete by April 2023.
Construction and characteristics
The ship was laid down on 5 May 1977 by the Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Marinette Marine Corp. of Marinette, Wisconsin. ''Narragansett'' was launched on 12 May 1979, and delivered to the Navy on 9 November 1979. Her hull was built of welded steel plates. She is long at the waterline and overall, with a beam of , and a draft of . She displaces 2,260 tons fully loaded. As originally built, ''Narragansett'' had two Variable-pitch propeller (marine), controllable-pitch Ducted propeller, Kort-nozzle propellers for propulsion. She had two 20-cylinder Diesel engines, Electro-Motive Diesel, GM EMD 20-645F7B, which provided 4,500 Horsepower, shaft horsepower. These would drive the ships at 15 knots. She also had a 300-horsepower Maneuvering thruster, bow thruster to improve maneuverability. Electrical power aboard the ship was provided by three 400 Kw generators. These were powered by three Detroit Diesel 8v-71 engines. ''Powhatan''-class tugs had global range in order to support the U.S. fleet across oceans. ''Narragansett's'' tankage was consequently large. She can carry of Diesel oil, of lube oil, and of drinking water. Her unrefueled range at 13 knots was
''Narragansett's'' aft deck is largely open to accommodate a number of different roles. It offers of working space. One of the missions of a fleet tug was to tow damaged warships back to port. She is equipped with a SMATCO 66 DTS-200 towing winch for service as a towboat. The towing system can accommodate either wire rope or synthetic-fiber hawsers and produce as much as 90 short tons of bollard pull. She has a 10-ton capacity crane for moving loads on the aft deck. There were connections to bolt down shipping containers and other equipment.
Like all MSC ships, ''Narragansett'' was crewed by civilian mariners. At launch, her complement was 16 civilian crew and a 4-person military detachment of communications specialists. The ships could accommodate an additional 16 people aboard for transient, mission-specific roles.
All the ships of the ''Powhatan''-class were named after Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes. ''Narragansett'' was named after the Narragansett people, Narragansett people, which had their historical center in the Rhode Island area.
Military Sealift Command service (1979–1999)
''Narragansett'' was dispatched from Busan, Pusan, South Korea to assist in the search for the black box flight recorders of the downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in the Fall of 1983. Special electronic equipment was embarked to listen for the beacon signals produced by the flight recorders, as well as a deep-diving remotely controlled submersible. The tug was harassed by Soviet Navy, Soviet ships while executing her search patterns and was ultimately unsuccessful in recovering the flight recorders.
In April 1984 the ship assisted in refloating USS Barbour County, USS ''Barbour County'' which was beached at the Silver Strand Training Complex, Silver Strand Amphibious Boat Area in Coronado, California.
Narragansett towed the Ocean Construction Platform ''Seacon'' from Panama to San Diego in July 1984.
''Narragansett'' rescued a family of six who had been drifting helplessly in a small sailboat for 32 days near Hawaii in October 1988.In 1990 she assisted in the investigation of another aircraft incident. Nine people were killed when the cargo door of United Airlines Flight 811 blew off shortly after the plane took off from Hawaii. The door fell into the sea and a search was initiated to find this important piece of evidence. ''Narragansett'' laid out a grid of eight transponders on the sea bed which were used to chart the movements of a Navy submersible hunting for the door. ''Narragansett'' also searched the area with an Orion side-scan sonar system which was embarked for this mission.
The ship accompanied USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169), USNS ''Navajo'' as she towed USS New Jersey (BB-62), ex-''New Jersey'' from Long Beach, California, Long Beach to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington in April 1991.
In 1992, ''Narragansett'' towed USS Midway (CV-41), ex-''Midway'' from San Diego, and USS Missouri (BB-63), ex-''Missouri'' from Long Beach to Bremerton, Washington.
The ship was placed out of service on 18 October 1999, and assigned to the inactive reserve. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 June 2002, and technically became the property of the United States Maritime Administration, U.S. Maritime Administration. ''Narragansett'' was loaned by her new owner back to the Navy on 2 August 2002.
Naval Air Weapons Command service (2002–2015)
The Naval Air Systems Command, Naval Air Weapons Command leased ''Narragansett'' to CSC Corporation, which in turn, subleased the vessel to Donjon Marine Company, Incorporated. Donjon Marine was also the lessee of a sister ship, ''USNS Powhatan, Powhatan''. The company was responsible for crewing, maintenance, and operations of the ship. ''Narragansett'' was used to tow USS Tripoli (LPH-10), ex-''Tripoli'' to various points in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific where she launched missiles as part of the development and testing programs for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD ballistic missile defense program, the Navy's sea-based RIM-174 Standard ERAM, terminal missile defense program, and the Israeli Arrow (missile family), Arrow missile program. During this period, ''Narragansett'' and ex-''Tripoli'' were based at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, and finally Port of San Francisco#Cargo terminals, Pier 80, San Francisco. In March 2015, ''Narragansett'' towed ex-''Tripoli'' through the Panama Canal to be stored with the Beaumont Reserve Fleet.Carrier Strike Group 4 service (2016–present)
By 2016, ''Narragansett'' had been assigned to the training support vessel squadron of Carrier Strike Group 4 and is now based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story, JEB Little Creek. Her role is to provide realistic training scenarios for Navy and Marine units about to deploy.
''Narragansett'' was reclassified from a fleet ocean tug (ATF) to a boat in 2009. While she retained her name, her hull number was changed from T-ATF-167 to 226NS7901. Boats do not typically display their hull numbers on their bows. ''Narragansett'' displays "TSV-4" on her bow today, a locally assigned pennant number.
Civilian mariners have continued to crew the ship, and private contractors have continued to operate and maintain her. PAE Applied Technologies, LLC was the first, while two other contractors ran the other ships in the training support vessel squadron. On 9 March 2018 Great Eastern Group, Inc. was awarded a contract to crew, maintain, and operate all the ships of the training support vessel squadron. On 12 April 2021 Great Eastern Group was awarded a new five-year contract for all the ships in the squadron, including ''Narragansett''.
''Narragansett'' underwent $7.6 million of maintenance in a Norfolk, Virginia shipyard in 2017. In June 2022, Lyon Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia won a $13.5 million contract for maintenance. The work was expected to be complete by April 2023.
Honors and awards
''Narragansett'' and her crew earned a number of honors and awards during her service. These include: Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal in 1994 for her service in Unified Task Force, Operation Restore Hope in Somalia Navy Expeditionary Medal in 1980, and 1981 for service in the Iran/Indian Ocean area Navy E Ribbon, Navy "E" Ribbon in 1983, 1984, and 1987 Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1983, for her service searching for the wreckage of Korean Airlines Flight 007.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narragansett Tugs of the United States Navy Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Ships built by Marinette Marine 1979 ships