Deep-draft USACE Dredges

I remember the day I first saw McFarland, coming up the Delaware, the largest dredge I’d ever seen.  Barrel has recently sent along earlier generations–as I see it–of the big Mac.

Let’s start with Goethals, built in 1937.

Then there was Markham, seen here just prior to launch, and

here she traverses in icy waters.  Can dredge operations proceed with ice?

Here she pumps out.  Markham was reefed off North Carolina in 1994.

McFarland went into service in 1967.  Her operations are described here by the skipper.

Here she’s at work on the Delaware River.  This method of discharging is called side casting.

 

Here she’s preparing to discharge into the transfer barge.

All these photos come via Barrel.

For more background on these federal dredges, click here.