Issaquah-class ferry
The Issaquah class are a series of six auto and passenger ferries built for the Washington State Ferries system in the late 1970s until the early 1980s.
The original Issaquah-class vessel Sealth at left with upgraded vessel Chelan at right | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | Marine Power and Equipment, Seattle, Washington |
| Operators | Washington State Ferries |
| Built | 1979–1982 |
| In service | May 1980–present |
| Completed | 6 |
| Active | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Auto/passenger ferry |
| Tonnage | 2,477 gross tonnage (GT) |
| Displacement | 3,310 long tons of displacement |
| Length | 328 ft (100 m) |
| Beam | 78 ft 8 in (23.98 m) |
| Decks | 3 or 4 (1 or 2 auto decks, passenger deck, nav bridge deck) |
| Deck clearance | 15 ft 2 in–15 ft 10 in (4.6–4.8 m) |
| Propulsion | 5,000 hp (3,700 kW) total from two diesel engines |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | 14 |
Originally, each vessel was built to accommodate 100 vehicles and 1,200 passengers but were built with accommodations to add an additional car deck. In the early to mid-1990s, five of the six vessels were modified with the additional car deck. The lone exception is the MV Sealth, which Washington State Ferries assigns to the San Juan Islands route in the summer, where her additional capacity for tall vehicles without the second deck has proven useful.
The Chelan was upgraded to international SOLAS safety standards in 2005, allowing her to make the crossing between Anacortes and Sidney, British Columbia.