Mobile, Ala. shipbuilder Austal USA held a keel laying ceremony to mark the official start of construction on the future USNS Solomon Atkinson (T-ATS 12), the seventh Navajo-class towing, salvage, and rescue ship for the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command.
Local community leaders, Austal USA employees, Navy personnel, and family and friends of ship namesake Solomon Atkinson attended the ceremony, the shipbuilder said.
The vessel is named in honor of Solomon Atkinson, a Metlakatla, Alaska native who became one of the first Navy SEALs, serving with distinction in Korea and Vietnam and later training astronauts like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. After retiring in 1973 as a Chief Warrant Officer 4, he returned home to serve his community as a civic leader and veterans' advocate.
Ship sponsors Joann Atkinson, Solomon Atkinson’s widow, and daughters Michele Gunyah and Maria Hayward, authenticated the keel by welding their initials into a keel plate that will be welded to the hull of the ship. They were assisted by Rufus Lord, a 15-year Austal USA veteran A-class welder.
The milestone is being recognized just over two weeks after Austal USA celebrated the christening of the future USNS Billy Frank Jr. (T-ATS 11).
“I am proud of the Austal USA T-ATS program team for providing us with the opportunity to celebrate two T-ATS milestones so close together,” said Dave Growden, Austal USA's vice president of new construction. “This ceremony is evidence of the hard work and dedication put forth by Austal USA and our Navy and supplier partners to keep the T-ATS program steadily moving forward.”
Combining the capabilities of the retiring rescue and Safeguard-class salvage ship (T-ARS 50) and Powhatan-class fleet ocean tug (T-ATF 166) platforms, the T-ATS is an 263'x59'oceangoing tug, salvage, and rescue ship designed to support the Navy’s fleet operations, with a multimission common hull platform capable of towing heavy ships. The ships can support a variety of missions, including oil spill response, humanitarian assistance, and wide-area search and surveillance.
The ships each have 6,000 square feet of deck space for embarked systems. The large, unobstructed deck allows for the embarkation of a variety of stand-alone and interchangeable systems. The platform also enables future rapid capability initiatives such as supporting modular payloads with hotel services and appropriate interfaces.
Austal USA now has three T-ATS vessels under construction with two more on order. Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards has completed two T-ATS vessles with three more currently under construction.
