PCU New Mexico (SSN-779)

This week's ship honors the state I've been working in for the past couple of months. The second vessel to be named after the state of New Mexico, the PCU New Mexico is a Virginia class attack submarine under construction at Newport News, with a launch date of mid 2010.



Design stats from the ship's website:


Launched: Scheduled for 13 December, 2008
Commissioned: Scheduled for 2009
Decommissioned:
Life expectancy: 33 years
Length: 377 ft
Beam: 34 ft
Submergence Depth: in excess of 800 ft
Displacement: 7835 tons submerged
Compliment: 134 total, 118 when deployed
Speed: > 25 kts
Power Plant: 40,000 hp ducted propeller, powered by 1 SG9 pressurized water reactor
Armament: 4 forward launch torpedo tubes, 12 vertical launch missile tubes


The PCU (Pre Commissioned Unit) New Mexico is the second ship in the US Navy to be named after the state, the first being the Battleship (BB-40). The New Mexico is one of a new fleet of Virginia class attack submarines, a cheaper alternative to the Seawolf class, and a replacement for the aging Los Angeles class of attack submarines. The New Mexico is a multi-mission platform, designed not only for attack, but also for ELINT, and as a staging platform for small unit (SEAL) operations.
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Falls of Clyde

This week's ship is one of unique status, the only sail-rigged oil tanker in existance, the Falls of Clyde



Stats from the National Park Service:

Launched: 1878
Retired: 1922 (as a hulk)
Length: 266.1 ft
Beam: 40.0 ft
Draught: 21.0 ft
Displacement: 1707 tons
Compliment: variable
Rig: Launched as a 4 masted ship rig, converted to bark in 1899

Built in Glasgow, Scotland, in1878 as the launching of a steel hulled windjammer fleet for the Glasgow Falls Line, the Falls of Clyde takes her name after the Scottish waterfall, as were the GFL's subsiquent ships. The Falls of Clyde made her career for the first twenty years of her life transporting bulk cargo that was still economical for sailing ships to transport: wheat from American Pacific Coast, nitrates from Chile, as well as cement, jute, and iron. In 1898 she was sold, and homeported in San Francisco, where through legislation she acquired a US registry, allowing her to participate in the now domestic Hawaiian sugar trade (Hawaii beciming a US colony in 1898). From then until 1907, she participated in the Hawaiian trade, transporting general cargo and passengers from the American Pacific Coast to Hawaii, and returning laden with sugar.

In 1907, she was again sold to the Associated Oil Co. of California, for use in the Hawaiian trade. She was reconfigured with pumps and ten large tanks in her hold, and an open space on her top deck for barrels, and entered the oil trade, carrying approximately 19,000 barrels of oil per trip. She continued to make between 5 and 7 voyages to Hawaii a year until 1920, when she was again sold, and made two voyages carrying oil between the United States and Denmark. She made one final voyage under yet another owner, to Buenos Aires, before being laid up, and sold as a gasoline and oil storage hulk for 37 years in Ketchikan, Alaska.

In 1959, she was no longer used as a fuel hulk, and several times was nearly wrecked before she could be purchased for restoration as a museum ship. She was remasted and restored, and by 1970 was open to the public in much her original condition as a sailing oil tanker. Recently, however, funds have been lacking for her upkeep, and the Falls of Clyde stands the danger of sinking at dockside unless she receives substantial contributions.
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