MV Illahee

MV Illahee
Career
Name: 1927-1940: MV Lake Tahoe
1940-2009: MV Illahee
Owner: 1927-1940: Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries Ltd
1940-1951: Puget Sound Navigation Company
1951-2009: WSDOT
Operator: 1927-1940: Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries Ltd
1940-1951: Black Ball Line
1951-2007: Washington State Ferries
Port of registry: Seattle, WA USA
Ordered: September 18, 1926
Builder: Moore Drydock Co., Oakland CA
Completed: Built: 1927
First Refit: 1958
Second Refit: 1986
In service: 1927
Out of service: November 20, 2007
Fate: scrapped in 2009, Ensenada, MEX
Notes: Official Number: 226588
Call Sign: WXT9366
General characteristics
Class and type:Steel Electric Class auto/passenger ferry
Length:256 ft 2 in (78 m)
Beam:73 ft 10 in (22.5 m)
Draft:12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Deck clearance:12 ft 7 in (3.8 m)
Installed power:Total 2,896 hp from 2 x Diesel-Electric engines
Speed:12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Capacity:616 passengers
59 vehicles (max 24 commercial)[1]

The MV Illahee was a Steel Electric Class ferry operated by Washington State Ferries.

Originally built as the MV Lake Tahoe in Oakland, California for the Southern Pacific Railroad, she started out serving on SP's Golden Gate Ferries subsidiary on San Francisco Bay. She was purchased by the Puget Sound Navigation Company in 1940, and she was moved to Puget Sound and renamed the MV Illahee until Washington State Ferries acquired and took over operations in 1951.[2]

She was serving on the inter-island route in the San Juan Islands when the entire Steel Electric class was withdrawn from service on November 20, 2007[3] due to hull corrosion issues.

In the summer of 2009, the Illahee and her sisters were sold to Eco Planet Recycling, Inc. of Chula Vista, California. In August, 2009 the ferry was towed out of Eagle Harbor and was scrapped in Ensenada, Mexico.[4]

Notes

  1. Vessel Information on the MV Illahee - WSDOT, WSF
  2. The MV Illahee - evergreenfleet.com
  3. Crucial Car Ferry Likely Out For A Year Or More, Seattle Times, December 11, 2007
  4. The MV Illahee - evergreenfleet.com

References

See also

Media related to Illahee (ship, 1927) at Wikimedia Commons