Natchitoches (YTB-799)

Natchitoches (YTB-799)

300px Natchitoches (YTB-799) heads across Charleston harbor with reporters and cameramen aboard.
History
Ordered:	2 May 1968
Builder:	Southern Shipbuilding Corp, Slidell, Louisiana
Laid down:	24 June 1968
Launched:	9 January 1969
Acquired:	22 May 1969
Struck:	13 October 1995
Fate:	Transferred to the US Army, Corps Of Engineers, 28 December 1995, renamed D. L. Billmaier
General characteristics
Class & type:	Natick-class large harbor tug
Displacement:	283 long tons (288 t) (light) 356 long tons (362 t) (full)
Length:	109 ft (33 m)
Beam:	31 ft (9.4 m)
Draft:	14 ft (4.3 m)
Speed:	12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement:	12
Armament:	None

Natchitoches (YTB-799) was a United States Navy Natick-class large harbor tug named for Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Construction

The contract for Natchitoches was awarded 2 May 1968. She was laid down on 24 June 1968 at Slidell, Louisiana, by Southern Shipbuilding Corp and launched 9 January 1969.

Operational history

Placed in service 29 May 1969, Natchitoches assigned to Boston. She served in Boston, Naval Station Puget Sound, Everett, Washington, and 6th Naval District at Charleston, South Carolina until her retirement in 1995.

Stricken from the Navy List 13 October 1995, she was transferred to the United States Army Corps of Engineers 28 December 1995. Ex-Natchitoches was renamed D. L. Billmaier.

File:Tugboat Billmaier.jpg

Billmaier with the crane barge H. J. Schwartz in Two Harbors, Minnesota

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of Natchitoches (YTB-799) at NavSource Naval History