page_title: USCGC Ida Lewis (WLM-551)
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: USCGC Ida Lewis (WLM-551) / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: USCGC Ida Lewis recovers a sunken buoy off Block Island, Rhode Island 0n April 24, 2017
context_page_description: USCGC Ida Lewis (WLM-551) is the lead ship of the United States Coast Guard Keeper-class of Coastal Buoy Tenders. Launched in 1995, she has spent her entire career maintaining navigational aids near her homeport of Newport, Rhode Island.
context_section_description: Ida Lewis was built by Marinette Marine Corporation in Marinette, Wisconsin.    The contract for the construction of the ship was awarded in June 1993, and the keel was laid in August 1994.  The contract price was $22 million. The ship was launched on October 14, 1995 into the Menominee River.  She was the first of the fourteen Keeper-class vessels completed.  The featured speaker at the christening ceremony was Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Robert E. Kramek.  His wife, Patricia, christened the ship.
  The hull is built of welded steel plate.  The ship is 175 feet (53 m) long and has a beam of 36 feet (11 m).  Her draft is 8.5 feet (2.6 m).    
  Keeper-class ships, including Ida Lewis, use z-drives for propulsion instead of fixed propellers and rudders.   The z-drives may be synchronized to point in the same direction when underway.  The ship is steered by changing the direction of the thrust.  For fine maneuvering or station keeping while working on a buoy, the two z-drives may be pointed in different directions.  These are combined with a bow thruster to allow the ship to remain at the same spot in the sea, a capability known as dynamic positioning. The two z-drives are powered by two Caterpillar 3508 TA Diesel engines.
  Electrical power is provided by three Caterpillar 3406 generators.
  
  The ship has a 42-foot long boom crane capable of lifting 10 tons onto her buoy deck.  This allows floating buoys to be hoisted aboard for maintenance.  The buoy deck is 1,335 square feet in area.
  Ida Lewis, as all Keeper-class buoy tenders, has an ice-strengthened hull so that she may continue to service navigational aids in light ice conditions.  There is an "ice-belt" of thicker steel at the ship's waterline to resist ice damage to the hull.  The bow is shaped to ride up over the ice and crush it with the ship's weight.  Her performance in ice conditions varies with the quality of the ice, the amount of power applied, and other factors.  At full-throttle, the ship can maintain a speed of 2 knots in smooth ice 12 inches (30 cm) thick, but various operational considerations argue against breaking ice this thick.
  Ida Lewis has one ship's boat, an 18 feet (5.5 m) long Cutterboat ATON – Medium (CB-ATON-M).  This boat was estimated to cost $210,000.
  The ship's namesake is Ida Lewis, keeper of the Lime Rock lighthouse.   She saved the lives of 24 people over her career at the lighthouse, the first at the age of 16.  She served until her death at the age of 69.
caption: Ida Lewis retrieving a sunken buoy in 2017
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