Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, broke its own heaviest lift record using two Manitowoc 16000 crawler cranes to pick nearly 1,000 tons as part of a project to construct the Navy's next-generation DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer warship. The two Manitowoc crawlers lifted a 992-ton deckhouse containing the ship's bridge, command center, and battle room off a barge and set it on the hull of the ship.
A subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp., Maine-based company knows a thing or two about heavy lifts having been building warships for the U.S. Navy for 128 years. Last December, Bath Iron Works broke its own heaviest lift record using two Manitowoc 16000 crawler cranes to pick nearly 1,000 tons - more than double the weight previously lifted by the shipyard.
The lift was part of a project to construct the Navy's next-generation DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer warship. Along with two of the company's 331-ton capacity gantry cranes, the two Manitowoc crawlers lifted a 992-ton deckhouse off a barge and set it on the hull of the ship. The deckhouse contained the ship's bridge, command center, and battle room.
The cranes were set up to lift at full capacity, with MAX-ER attachments that boosted their capacities to 440 tons. The 16000 features a 315-ft. maximum boom length, but for this lift the cranes were rigged with 157 ft. The cranes' EPIC controls and closed-loop hydraulics enable independent, variable-speed operation of the swing, load hoist, boom hoist, and travel functions.
The deckhouse was picked off a barge, raised to 89 ft. in the air, and then held in place for three hours. Twelve Slingmax Twin-Path synthetic slings held the deckhouse while the barge was moved out from beneath it and the 13,228-ton ship was floated into place. Finally, the cranes lowered the 155-ft. long by 60-ft. tall deckhouse onto the ship's hull. The completed vessel weighed nearly 14,330 tons.
Woolwich, Maine-based contractor Reed & Reed oversaw the lift, which included renting the cranes to Bath Iron Works and supplying their operators. The company has been working with Bath Iron Works since 1928, when it was founded. The Manitowoc 16000s, the largest capacity cranes in Reed & Reed's fleet, were chosen because the lift required two matching cranes for uniformity and simplicity.
Source: Crane & Rigging Hotline Magazine
