Miss Katie (2022 ship)

Silt from several large rivers and the movement of beach sand along the Outer Banks has historically threatened navigable channels through the barrier islands. This has negatively impacted the local fishing industry and other maritime businesses. In addition, shoaling at the mouths of the inlets, or "bars", has been a factor in the loss of ships and lives.^[1]

In 1950, Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to maintain a dredged channel 14 feet (4.3 m) deep through Oregon Inlet.^[2] High winds, strong tides, and major storms have largely thwarted this effort. Despite spending well over $100 million on dredging, the majority of the time the channel has fallen below its authorized depth, and sometimes it has been closed completely.^[1] For example, a storm during the week of May 8, 2022 moved enough sand to reduce the channel through Oregon Inlet to less than 3 feet (0.91 m) deep, effectively closing it to most vessels.^[3]

Local efforts to keep the inlets open resulted in a partnership between the State of North Carolina, Dare County, and EJE Dredging Service to build and operate Miss Katie. On May 20, 2019, the Dare County Board of Commissioners approved the contract for the construction of the vessel.^[4] She was designed by Jensen Naval Architects & Marine Engineers, a unit of Crowley Maritime. She was built at the Morgan City, Louisiana facility of Conrad Shipyard, LLC. The ship was launched on April 4, 2022.^[5]

Miss Katie departed the Conrad Shipyard on August 13, 2022 and arrived at her new homeport, Wanchese, North Carolina six days later.^[6] She was christened on October 13, 2022 at a ceremony at Wanchese.^[7] She was christened by Brooke Burr, wife of U.S. Senator Richard Burr.^[8]

Miss Katie is 156.25 feet (47.63 m) long and has a beam of 35 feet (11 m). Her hull is constructed of welded steel plates. Her draft is 10.8 feet (3.3 m), when her hopper is loaded with dredging spoil. She displaces 566 tons light loaded, but with a full load of spoil her displacement is over 1000 tons. Her hopper can hold up to 512 cubic yards of dredging spoil.^[7]

Miss Katie is a "suction dredge". She pulls two suctionheads, referred to as "dragheads", along the seafloor as she moves slowly through the water. The dragheads are connected to pipes called "drag arms" that descend from both sides of the ship. Sand, mud, and silt on the seafloor enters the dragheads and is pulled up through the drag arms by powerful pumps. It is then deposited in a hopper in the middle of the ship. During dredging operations, she can fill her hopper in 30 minutes.^[9] When the hopper is full, the ship sails to an offshore location and opens doors in the bottom of the hopper, allowing the dredge spoil to fall to the sea bottom. Alternatively, she can pump sand overboard for beach nourishment or other purposes.^[7]

The ship is propelled by two Cummins Diesel engines, each rated at 760 horsepower that drive two ZF ATZ 4111 azimuth thrusters.^[10] She has two Cummins QSM-11 Diesel generators which produce 250 Kw each and a Cummins QSB-7 emergency generator which produces 99 Kw. She has two bow thrusters to improve maneuverability.^[11]

The ship is crewed by 5 civilian mariners.^[11]

The ship's namesake is Caitlyn "Katie" Whitehurst, daughter of Judson Whitehurst, a partner in EJE Dredging Service, the vessel's owner.^[8]