Bucksport has eye on Navy ships

BUCKSPORT – Port visits up the Penobscot River are planned this summer for two U.S. Navy vessels for the town’s Bay Festival – but only if they both can fit under the Waldo-Hancock Bridge and alongside the Sprague Dock.

While the details have not been worked out, operators of the two vessels – a 525-foot cruiser and a 445-foot frigate – have requested assignments that would bring the craft to town for the festival, according to Gail Kelly, regional representative at U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office in Bangor.

Snowe’s office annually routes requests for ship visits from Maine towns to the U.S. Navy, which coordinates the requests with ship deployments.

“We don’t have the names of the vessels yet,” Kelly said. “We have to wait for a letter of commitment from the commanders.”

The lack of specific details about the vessels, however, has dampened the enthusiasm somewhat at the town office. “It would certainly be a draw having two ships here at one time,” Dave Milan, the town’s economic development director, said Friday.

But Milan is concerned the vessels might not fit under the Waldo-Hancock Bridge.

That’s no idle concern, either. Two years ago, a Navy destroyer was forced to cancel its scheduled visit to town when officials discovered the 158-foot tall vessel would not fit under the 135-foot-high span.

Last year, the town traded vessels to get the frigate Estocin to come for the Bay Festival, when, again, the planned destroyer could not fit under the bridge.

“So I’m kind of sensitive to making sure that these are the right height,” Milan said.

Milan was busy Friday afternoon searching the U.S. Navy Web site in an effort to find out more information about the vessels’ heights.

Other logistics remain to be worked out, he said, including preparing for the influx of 600 sailors in town and determining where the vessels will tie up.

The combined length of the two vessels is 970 feet, 170 feet longer than Sprague Dock. That much overhang shouldn’t be a problem for vessels that size, Milan said. He noted, however, he has not talked with officials at Sprague Dock to see whether they are comfortable with that arrangement.

“I’d rather not have to have them tie up beside each other,” Milan said. That makes it harder for people to see them, he said.

There’s plenty of room in the harbor, and plenty of water at the dock, but there are some shallow spots at low tide, which might prevent the vessels from leaving in a hurry if they had to.

Last year, the town received visits from two naval vessels, The Tempest, a 180-foot Cyclone-class coastal patrol boat, which spent a week in town in June, and the 450-foot frigate Estocin, which was on hand for the 2002 Bay Festival.

According to Milan, the captains of both vessels gave the town high ratings in their reports back to the Atlantic Fleet.

“It’s kind of exciting having people fighting over us, so to speak,” Milan said. “I’m not surprised they want to come here. They enjoyed their visit here, and they reported that back to the Atlantic Fleet.

“And captains talk.”

Milan hopes the captains of the two vessels are talking now and will decide whether the two vessels can safely visit the area at the same time.

According to Kelly, the letters of commitment from the vessels’ commanders should be in hand within the next few weeks.