HSC Manannan
Manannan entering Douglas Harbour
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| History | |
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| Name: |
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| Namesake: | Manannán mac Lir |
| Operator: |
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| Port of registry: |
 Douglas
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| Route: | |
| Builder: | Incat, Tasmania, Australia |
| Yard number: | 050 |
| Completed: | 1998 |
| Commissioned: | 1998 |
| Recommissioned: | 2009 |
| Refit: | 2001, 2009 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 9176072 |
| Status: | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 96 metre WPC |
| Type: | High speed craft |
| Tonnage: | 5,743 GT |
| Length: | 95.47 m (313 ft 3 in) |
| Beam: | 26.16 m (85 ft 10 in) |
| Draft: | 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) |
| Installed power: | 4 × Caterpillar diesel engines |
| Speed: | Lightship condition 50+ knots. Fully laden 40-42 knots. |
| Capacity: |
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HSC Manannan is a 96-metre (315 ft) wave-piercing high-speed catamaran car ferry built in Tasmania in 1998. After commercial service in Australia and New Zealand, she was chartered to the US Military as USS Joint Venture (HSV-X1). Now owned and operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, she mainly provides a seasonal service between Douglas and Liverpool.
Manannan is one of six 96-metre (WPC 96) catamarans built by Incat of Tasmania, Australia. She was built as Incat 050 in 1998. Under the name Devil Cat, she operated for a short period as a commercial ferry for TT-Line. A spell followed crossing the Cook Strait as Top Cat. Then she was acquired by the US Navy and converted for military purposes.
In 2001, she was commissioned as USS Joint Venture (HSV-X1), serving for five years with the United States Armed Forces. A flight deck was added to accommodate various helicopters in the US Navy arsenal. Joint Venture was rapidly re-configurable and could perform a variety of missions, principal among them the ability to ferry up to 325 combat personnel and 400 tons of cargo up to 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km) one way at speeds in excess of 40 knots (74 km/h).
In 2003, Joint Venture was assigned to Operation Enduring Freedom in the Horn of Africa. She operated as a fast transport in support of the Combined Joint Task Force and performing a variety of tasks, such as transporting and supplying troops at high speed over long distances, operating as a mobile command centre, working close inshore, and operating as a helicopter carrier.
At the end of the five year charter, she was handed back to Incat in early 2006. She underwent a refit and was painted in the livery of Express Ferries. Plans for her to enter service as a car and passenger ferry never materialised.
On 19 May 2008, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company announced the purchase of the wave-piercing catamaran for £20 million, as the replacement for the fast craft Viking. Because of its previous use, the company said it had significantly fewer hours of service than a vessel of comparable age and was ideally suited for the planned service. She completed the 11,868 miles (19,100 km) mile voyage from Hobart to Portsmouth, with most of the materials for her refit, in 27 days.
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Wikipedia