Bollinger Shipyards
| LLC | |
| Industry | Shipbuilding, Defense |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Founder | Donald G. Bollinger |
| Headquarters | Lockport, Lafourche, Louisiana, United States |
|
Area served
|
worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Benjamin G. Bordelon (President and CEO) |
| Products | Patrol Boats, Cutters, Workboats, Barges, Tugboats |
| Website | www.bollingershipyards.com |
Bollinger Shipyards is an American constructor of ships, workboats and patrol vessels. The firm was founded in 1946. Its thirteen shipyards and forty drydocks are located in Louisiana and Texas. Its drydocks range in capacity from vessels of 100 tons displacement to 22,000 tons displacement.
The United States Coast Guard has called upon Bollinger Shipyards to build many of its patrol vessels
Bollinger secured the contract to build approximately fifty Marine Protector cutters. These 87 foot (27 m) vessels were staffed by a crew of 10. Uniquely for Coast Guard vessels of this size they were designed to be capable of being crewed by crews of mixed sex. These high speed vessels were lightly armed, mounting just two Browning M2 fifty caliber machine guns. But they were equipped with a stern launching ramp, capable of launching and retrieving a high speed pursuit boat while the cutter was still in motion. The launch and retrieval of the pursuit boat required just one sailor to remain on deck.
Bollinger originally built 49 110 feet (34 m) Island class cutters, so called because each cutter was named after an Island. These vessels were staffed by a crew of 18, and their primary armament was a 25 mm . Bollinger secured a contract to refit eight of the Island Class cutters, adding thirteen feet to their stern, so they too could launch and retrieve a pursuit boat from a rear launching ramp. The refit also included replacing the original deckhouse and refitting the crew accommodation so they could carry a mixed gender crew of 18. The conversion added 15 tons to each vessel. All of the eight refitted 123 feet (37 m) Island class cutters' hulls would crack when driven at high speed in a heavy seas, and proved to be so unseaworthy that they were all withdrawn from service, forcing the scrapping of the conversion program. As a result, in August 2011, the US government sued Bollinger over the failed modifications, alleging that the company made false statements about the hull strength that would result from its extensions to the patrol boats. The suit was dismissed.
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Wikipedia