Bollinger Shipyards, Houma, La., held a keel laying ceremony on Oct. 17 for the future USNS Lenni Lenape (T-ATS 9), marking the sixth Navajo-class towing, salvage, and rescue ship the company is building for the U.S. Navy since acquiring the program in 2021.
The event was attended by senior Navy officials and more than 20 representatives from the Lenape Nation.
“Bollinger is grateful for the Navy’s continued confidence in our team to build the Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ships,” said Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards. “The keel laying of the future USNS Lenni Lenape marks another significant milestone in our partnership, and we are honored to support the Navy’s fleet modernization efforts through the T-ATS program.”
Named in honor of the Lenni Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania—the first tribe to sign a treaty with the United States in 1778—the vessel will be the first Navy ship to carry the Lenni Lenape name.
The Navajo-class ships provide ocean-going towing, salvage, and rescue capabilities to support fleet operations. The class replaces the Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugs and Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ships currently operated by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command.
In addition to T-ATS 9, Bollinger is building USNS Navajo (T-ATS 6), USNS Cherokee Nation (T-ATS 7), USNS Saginaw Ojibwe Anishinabek (T-ATS 8), and USNS Muscogee Creek Nation (T-ATS 10).
According to the Navy, the Navajo-class is a multi-mission platform designed for towing, rescue, salvage, humanitarian assistance, oil spill response, and wide-area search and surveillance operations. The vessels can also deploy unmanned underwater and aerial vehicles to expand operational capabilities.
