Eastern Shipbuilding Group and its partners in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Royal IHC, held a keel laying ceremony Jan. 22 for the ongoing construction of the dredge Donnelly at Eastern’s Allanton, Fla., facility.
“This keel laying represents an important production milestone for our team and a clear demonstration of the progress being made on this vessel,” said Joey D’Isernia, chairman and CEO of Eastern Shipbuilding Group.
“Our workforce is executing this program with a strong focus on quality, safety, and schedule performance, and we are proud to be building a hopper dredge that will support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ mission for years to come. We value the close collaboration with USACE and Royal IHC as we move forward with construction.”
The 320’x72’ Donnelly is a Medium Class Hopper Dredge that has been under construction since April 2025. The vessel will replace the Dredge McFarland.
“The keel laying represents the ceremonial start of a ship’s life by commemorating the assembly of the initial modular construction units,” according to a statement from Eastern officials. “Historically, shipbuilders would carve their initial into the keel to validate that the keel was properly laid and of excellent quality.”
For the Donnelly, the initials went into the keel authentication plate with Trace Taylor, a welder with ESG, overseen by Russ Donnelly, representing the family of the late Ray Donnelly, the vessel namesake.
Donnelly retired as chief of resource management for the Army corps’ Philadelphia District in 2020. He previously received the Army Engineer Association’s de Fleury Medal (Bronze Order) in recognition of his 44-year career with both the U.S. Navy and the Army corps. He was a key leader in the USACE Resource Management community and conducted a detailed analysis of the four USACE-owned dredges and the impacts of recapitalization on the national Civil Works program
Construction of the Donnelly began in April 2025 with a steel cutting ceremony at Allanton Shipyard. Modular construction has proceeded since then, with unit builds and fabrication and assembly of various key components. Work is being carried out in close coordination with the USACE Marine Design Center, Eastern Shipbuilding Group, and Royal IHC, the designer of record.
The new dredge is on track to be placed into service in fiscal year 2028. When complete the dredge will have a hull depth of 28’ and draft of 25’6” at maximum hopper capacity of 6,000 cu. yds. It will have a maximum dredge depth of 65’ with the suction tube at 45 degrees.
