View source for Chesapeake 1000

{{Short description|Heavy lift crane ship built in 1972}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin|display title=ital|infobox caption=''Chesapeake 1000''}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image      = Chesapeake 1000 at the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse (53620746314).jpg
| Ship image size = 200
| Ship caption    = ''Chesapeake 1000'' in Baltimore in March 2024
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Ship name       = ''Sun 800''
| Ship builder    = Kelso Marine
| Ship owner      = [[Sun Shipbuilding]]
| Ship completed  = 1972
| Ship identification = {{IMO|8639314}}
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Ship name       = ''Chesapeake 1000''
| Ship owner      = Donjon Marine
| Ship acquired   = 1993
| Ship nickname   = ''Chessy''
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Ship length     = {{cvt|191|ft|2|in|m|1}}
| Ship beam       = {{cvt|101|ft|2|in|m|1}}
| Ship draft      = {{cvt|20|ft|1|in|m|1}}
}}
|}
'''''Chesapeake 1000''''' (formerly '''''Sun 800''''') is a heavy lift [[sheerleg]] [[crane ship]], owned by Donjon Marine Co., capable of lifting {{convert|1,000|ST|LT MT}}.<ref name="BBC-68693499">{{cite news |first=Nadine |last=Yousif |title=Baltimore bridge: Massive US crane to haul wreckage after deadly collapse |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68693499 |access-date=April 1, 2024 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=March 29, 2024}}</ref><ref name="TME">{{cite web |title=The Biggest Crane Barge on the Baltimore Bridge Project has a CIA Past |url=https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/crane-barge-on-baltimore-bridge-salvage-has-a-cia-past |website=The Maritime Executive |access-date=April 1, 2024 |date=March 31, 2024}}</ref> It is one of the largest boomable stiff-leg-derrick barges on the eastern seaboard of the United States.{{efn|''[[Left Coast Lifter]]'', currently tied up at Staten Island, can lift nearly double the capacity; it was constructed for the [[eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]] and subsequently was moved to the east coast to work on the [[Tappan Zee Bridge (2017–present)|replacement Tappan Zee Bridge]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.lohud.com/story/news/2024/03/29/largest-floating-crane-at-baltimore-site-not-left-coast-lifter/73142285007/ |title='Largest floating crane' at Baltimore bridge site isn't the one Hudson Valley might recall |first=Peter D. |last=Kramer |work=[[Rockland/Westchester Journal News]] |date=March 29, 2024 |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/video-huge-floating-crane-swings-into-action-to-clear-baltimore-bridge/ |title=Huge floating crane swings into action to clear Baltimore bridge debris |date=April 18, 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=1 May 2024 |quote=The Chesapeake 1000 is a huge floating crane working to clear sections of debris from the Baltimore bridge that collapsed after being struck by a ship. But there's an even larger crane laid up in New York that could swing into action to help rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge.}}</ref>}}<ref name="BBC-68693499" /><ref name="TME" /> 

The barge measures {{convert|191|ft|m}} long,<ref name="BBC-68693499" /> with a beam of {{convert|101|ft|m}}; its draft is {{convert|20|ft|m}}.<ref name="enr">{{Cite web |last=Post |first=Nadine M. |date=2017-03-21 |title=Floating Crane on Job in NYC's East River Has a Storied Past of Cold War Intrigue |url=https://www.enr.com/articles/41701-floating-crane-on-job-in-nycs-east-river-has-a-storied-past-of-cold-war-intrigue |access-date=2024-04-03 |website=[[Engineering News-Record]] |language=en}}</ref>

Since late March 2024, it has been involved in salvage efforts at [[Baltimore]], following the [[Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse]].<ref name="BBC-68693499" />

== History ==
The crane barge was built by Kelso Marine in [[Galveston, Texas]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/small/westgulf.htm |title=West Gulf Marine |date=January 28, 2021 |website=Shipbuilding History |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="DiD-07" /> for [[Sun Shipbuilding]] in 1972 at a cost of nearly $5 million.<ref name="TME" /><ref name="PhillyInquirer" /> At the time, it was the largest crane ship in the world.<ref name="PhillyInquirer">{{cite news |last1=Rossi |first1=Frank |title=The costly rescue of a wrecked ship |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/168183952/ |access-date=April 3, 2024 |work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |date=November 11, 1979 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The crane was initially able to lift {{convert|800|ST|LT MT}}, and so was named ''Sun 800''.<ref name="PI-1991" />

In 1982, Sun's parent, the [[Sun Oil Company]], sold Sun Shipbuilding to Ed Paden, who renamed the business to Pennsylvania Shipbuilding (Penn Ship);<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/sun-ship-vessels-progress |title=Sun Ship: Vessels of Progress |first=John C. |last=Schmidt III |date=Fall 2010 |website=Pennsylvania Center for the Book |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref> yard assets were renamed similarly, and the crane was renamed '''''Penn 800'''''.<ref name="USNI-24" /> While en-route to Puerto Rico in the mid-1980s, the derrick barge was caught in a hurricane and the original [[guyed mast|boom]] was lost; it was replaced with a boom measuring {{cvt|256|ft}} long (heel to jib) and the main fall block was upgraded to a 35-ton unit,<ref name="DiD-07">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.donjon.com/pdfs/Donjon%20In-Depth%20(Volume%202,%20Issue%201).pdf |title=Donjon equipment up to the task |date=Fall 2007 |volume=2 |issue=1 |publisher=Donjon Marine |magazine=DONJON In-Depth |page=4 |access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref> which increased the lifting capacity to {{cvt|1000|ST|t}} and the vessel was renamed '''''Penn 1000'''''.<ref name="PI-1991">{{cite news |last1=Altman |first1=Howard |title=Mighty crane tackles tough demolition job |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-pi-rr-bridge-t/19739052/ |access-date=April 3, 2024 |work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |date=December 5, 1991 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="USNI-24">{{cite news |url=https://news.usni.org/2024/03/29/crane-linked-to-cia-soviet-sub-misson-now-on-station-at-key-bridge-collapse |title=Crane Linked to CIA Soviet Sub Mission Now on Station at Key Bridge Collapse |first=Heather |last=Mongilio |date=March 29, 2024 |work=USNI News |publisher=[[United States Naval Institute]] |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref> Tim Colton, who was the Vice President of Marketing for Penn Ship, stated the engineers originally had designed the crane to be upgraded to 1000 tons; however, after the upgrade, it sat idle most of the time, so the crane was moved to the busier [[Port of Norfolk]], Virginia and renamed ''Chesapeake 1000''.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/Staying%20Afloat.pdf |title=Staying Afloat: A Life in Shipbuilding |chapter=12: PENNSYLVANIA: DEVELOPING THE BUSINESS |first=Tim |last=Colton |pages=107–116 |date=2008 |publisher=Maritime Business Strategies, LLC |location=Delray Beach, Florida}}</ref>{{rp|111–112}}

In 1989, the [[United States Navy]] acquired a preferred mortgage on the floating crane as a performance guarantee for a contract to build five oil tankers, which had been awarded in 1984. After Penn Ship was unable to complete the contract, the crane barge was sold to Maritime Capital Corp, which subsequently sold it to Donjon, but the transfer was complicated by the pre-existing Navy encumbrance. The Navy released Penn Ship from its obligations in 1992,<ref>{{cite court |vol=255 |reporter=F.Supp.2d |opinion=351 |court=[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|E.D. Pa.]] |date=2002 |litigants=United States v. Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/255/351/2562652/}}</ref><ref>{{cite court |vol=473 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=506 |litigants=United States vs. Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. |date=2007 |court=[[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit|3d. Cir.]] |url=https://casetext.com/case/us-v-shipbuilding}}</ref> and it was renamed to its current name, ''Chesapeake 1000'', after the acquisition was completed by Donjon Marine in 1993.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Ben |last=Finley |date=2024-04-03 |title=Chessy: The crane at the centre of the Maryland bridge clean-up and its CIA history |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chesapeake-1000-crane-maryland-bridge-b2522805.html |access-date=2024-04-03 |work=[[The Independent]] |language=en}}</ref>

===Operations===
''Sun 800'' was built for heavy lifts, specifically the gimbal platforms and bearings,<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005607353.pdf |title=Engineering for AZORIAN |date=Fall 1978 |journal=Studies in Intelligence |volume=22 |number=3 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref>{{rp|14}} during the construction of ''[[Glomar Explorer]]'',<ref name="TME" /><ref name="PhillyInquirer" /> which was the centerpiece of [[Project Azorian]], a [[Central Intelligence Agency| CIA]] project that aimed to recover Soviet submarines during the Cold War.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Rosenzweig-Ziff |first1=Dan |last2=Somasundaram |first2=Praveena |date=2024-04-01 |title=A crane with Cold War CIA origins will help the Baltimore bridge cleanup |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/03/31/baltimore-key-bridge-chesapeake-crane/ |access-date=2024-04-03 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> In 1975, ''Sun 800'' was used to recover the {{cvt|79|ft|adj=on}} tugboat ''Saratoga'' from the [[Delaware River]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/181608812/ |title=Winds halt efforts to raise tugboat |first=Robert |last=Market |newspaper=Courier-Post |location=Camden, New Jersey |page=57 |date=December 19, 1975 |access-date=10 April 2024 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> which had sunk after being rammed by the ship it was towing.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/10/archives/river-open-after-crash.html |title=River Open After Crash |agency=AP |date=December 10, 1975 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref> By 1978, the heaviest lift recorded by ''Sun 800'' was a {{cvt|785|ST|t|adj=on}} [[deckhouse]].<ref>{{cite report |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDP7SZ6drkcC&pg=PA16 |title=Report on Survey of U.S. Shipbuilding and Repair Facilities |page=16 |publisher=[[United States Maritime Administration|Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce]] |date=1978 |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref> In 1979, it was used to help raise the stricken barge ''Elizabeth Turner''.<ref name="PhillyInquirer" /> ''Sun 800'' was used for heavy lifts during the demolition of the central vertical lift spans of the [[CRRNJ Newark Bay Bridge]] in 1981, removing {{cvt|4500|ST}} of steel in one week.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JAI1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA185 |title=Project No. BRM-7543(2): Cochrane Bridge Replacement, City of Mobile, Mobile County {{!}} Administration Action: Final Environmental Impact Statement |page=185 |date=March 17, 1982 |publisher=[[Federal Highway Administration]], U.S. Department of Transportation |quote=Another alternative is one which was used in the summer of 1981 to remove two 299-foot long vertical lift spans on a railroad bridge that connected Bayonne and Elizabeth, New Jersey (Civil Engineering Magazine, September, 1981). [...] The Sun 800, the largest barge-mounted crane on the East Coast completed the job in only seven days. [...] A total of 4,500 tons of steel was removed.}}</ref>

Under Donjon, which was based in [[Hillside, Pennsylvania]], it removed a derelict steel trestle railroad bridge to [[Petty Island]] in 1991.<ref name="PI-1991" /> The ''Chesapeake 1000'' participated in the 1996 salvage of the ''[[Irving Whale]]''. After relocating its home port to [[Port Newark]], it also has assisted in the 2016 construction of a {{cvt|960|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} laboratory building for [[Rockefeller University]], and lifted and landed seven units to create a {{cvt|485|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}}, single-story platform for New York Hospital in 1995.<ref name="enr" /> In 2016, ''Chesapeake 1000'' was used to recover the {{cvt|84|ft|adj=on}} tug ''Specialist'', which sank in the [[Hudson River]] on March 12, killing three.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/2016/03/21/tugboat-wreck-raised-thursday/82069068/ |title=Tugboat crash: Recovery underway |first=Matt |last=Spillane |date=March 21, 2016 |work=[[Lohud.com]] |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref>

Following the collapse of the [[Francis Scott Key Bridge (Baltimore)|Francis Scott Key Bridge]] in Baltimore, ''Chesapeake 1000'' and ''[[Weeks 533]]'' were dispatched to the [[Port of Baltimore]];<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.keybridgeresponse2024.com/post/unified-command-continues-key-bridge-response-2024-1 |title=Unified Command continues Key Bridge Response 2024 |date=March 29, 2024 |publisher=[[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] |access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref> they will be used first to clear several sections of the wrecked bridge and establish a temporary shipping channel, then to remove the bridge sections pinning {{ship|MV|Dali}}, and finally to remove the remaining bridge trusses outside the temporary channel. On March 30, 2024, the first section of the bridge was lifted.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.workboat.com/coastal-inland-waterways/plans-to-open-baltimore-temporary-channel |title=Plans to open Baltimore temporary channel |date=April 1, 2024 |work=WorkBoat |access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Weeks 533]]'' (ex-''Marine Boss''), largest revolving floating crane on the East Coast
* [https://www.donjon.com/ches1000.htm Technical data] of Chesapeake 1000 at Website from Donjon Marine Co.

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Official website}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.sunship.org/cranes/sun800.html |title=The ''SUN 800'' Floating Derrick Crane |first=David |last=Kavanagh |publisher=Sun Shipbuilding Historical Society}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1972 ships]]
[[Category:Crane vessels]]
[[Category:Ships built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company]]