Photo By Stacey Reese | Kaleb Kepler, river harbor maintenance worker and part of the Tulsa District floating...... read more read more
TULSA, Okla. – The Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers motor vessel, Mr. Pat, is nearing the end of major refurbishment upgrades at the Memphis District Ensley Engineer Yard on the Mississippi River.
The vessel, which is permanently housed out of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Terminal, near the navigation project office in Sallisaw, Okla. began its journey to its current location on Jan. 3 and arrived on Jan. 12.
“The speed of the vessel depends on river current and whether we are going up or down river,’ said Michael Bush who is the pilot of the vessel. “On the trip to Memphis, the current on the Mississippi River had us down to about four miles per hour.”
Both Mister Pat generators are in the process of being rebuilt and a U.S. Coast Guard inspection is scheduled for July 19.
“Mr. Pat has undergone an extensive amount of work in the last several months,” said David Hutain, captain of the vessel. “The crew along with Ensley personnel has performed welding repairs to the bulkheads, reworked items with water damage, repaired a cracked brake rotor and installed new shaft seals among other things.”
The Mr. Pat is a 2000 horsepower vessel measuring 83 feet X 34 feet that pushes a crane barge with a 200-ton Manitowoc crane.
“The primary mission for this vessel is to perform heavy maintenance on locks, dams, and channels,” said Rodney Beard, navigation project manager. “This floating plant also performs clamming for Hydropower and Navigation, debris removal, bank, and dike revetment and can also called upon at times for emergency response operations, for example the Interstate 40 bridge collapse.”
This craft along with two other smaller craft help maintain the reliability of the system and prevent unscheduled closures in the SWT area of responsibility. The impacts for unscheduled closures are estimated to be in the millions of dollars per day affecting multiple states that use this river system to transport their commodities.
Major maintenance work on the vessel is done every five years ensuring SWT’s floating plant crew is able to perform any needed major maintenance or repairs along the SWT district portion of the McClellan Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.
Mr. Pat is named for Robert D. Patterson, a native Oklahoman and a registered professional engineer. He had more than 43 years of service with USACE and was involved in construction of army air bases and flood control projects.
He became assistant resident engineer for construction of W.D. Mayo and Robert S. Kerr locks and dams in 1964 and stayed on to become assistant area engineer at Robert S. Kerr once construction was complete.
In that capacity, he shared responsibility for operations and maintenance of the five locks and dams and 150 miles of navigation channel under Tulsa District’s area of responsibility.
| Date Taken: | 07.14.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.14.2022 12:50 |
| Story ID: | 424982 |
| Location: | SALLISAW, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 73 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tulsa District's Mr. Pat undergoing major maintenance on the Mississippi, by Stacey Reese, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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