Portland Engineer District welcomes new survey vessel

Written by Marine Log Staff
survey vessel Beeman

Beeman, the newest addition to the hydrographic survey vessel fleet owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District takes its first ride after its official christening ceremony. [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Chris Gaylord]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District officially welcomed its newest hydrographic survey vessel, the Beeman, with a dedication and christening ceremony in Newport, Oregon, Jan. 11.

The vessel was built by Workskiff Inc. of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., and is based on the yard’s 32-foot Commander model with a Furuno USA navigation system and survey package add-on.

The survey station accommodates two monitors with an HD monitor at the helm. Included are ac and DC power outlets for a 3,000-watt AC pure sine wave interior with mitigating shock seating. The exterior is equipped with a slide and swivel server rack, a galley for hot and fresh water, and a black water holding tank. A single beam through hull transducer sits on the bottom of the craft while a universal survey mount sits on the gunwale for over-the-side sonar deployment.

The Beeman, whose name honors the legacy of Ogden Beeman, chief of the Portland District’s Waterways Navigation Branch from 1960-1967, replaces and continues the work of the district’s aging vessel, the Patterson, which surveyed Oregon’s coastal entrances for 22 years.

The Beeman improves on the technology of its predecessor and has a shallow draft ideal for safe operation in constrained areas and coastal conditions, allowing the district the best possible opportunity to obtain real-time data in dynamic environments.

“This is a vessel with a critical mission, as dredging and structural operations and maintenance can’t take place without the data it will collect,” said Karla Ellis, the Portland District’s chief of Waterways Maintenance. “It’s always nice to get a new piece of equipment like this, but it’s equally meaningful to know that it also represents a legacy for family and friends, and we’re always honored to be a part of that.”

The USACE Portland District maintains the vital navigation channels of the Pacific Northwest by performing maintenance dredging, which ensures channels remain deep enough to accommodate the drafts of shipping vessels. The district’s survey vessels collect hydrographic data from river and harbor bottoms to determine where that dredging is needed.

The six survey vessels owned and operated by the district inform the dredging of 244 navigable river miles and 22 ports from Nehalem to Chetco.

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