_{The Elwha in April, 2019. She would only remain in service three more months. Photo courtesy of Brandon Swan.}

CLASS: Super Class

BUILT/REBUILT: 1968/1991, National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, CA/Fisherman’s Boat Shop, Everett, WA.

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 512324 CALL SIGN: WY3960 

L/B/D: 382 x 73 x 19   GROSS/NET TONS: 2813/1322

PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 1090 (International), 2000 Domestic/144 cars

PROPULSION: 4 EMD 16-645 BC diesels SPEED: 17 knots

NAME TRANSLATION: Elk, and for the first Elwha.

FINAL DISPOSITION: Retired 2020.

HISTORY

Of all the vessels in the Washington State ferry fleet, the Elwha is probably the most well-known.  Or perhaps the most notorious. She has an established dislike of ferry docks, chewing them up with gusto and regularity that hasn’t been seen since the Kalakala.

The Elwha has the distinction of having both a geographical landmark and a drink named after her for her antics in the San Juans.

The first of the Supers to be refurbished, the Elwha (much like the Klickitat, which was first for the Steel Electric refurbishment project) got a much different rebuilding than the Yakima and Kaleetan that followed afterward.  Part of it was due to having to repair the extensive damage she suffered while being rebuilt in the winter of 1990.                 

Hurricane-force winds descended on the Puget Sound region in December of 1990 (later dubbed the “Arctic Express”) which left thousands without power and extensive damage throughout the state.  The Elwha, without power, partially broke free of her moorings and was slammed into a concrete pier for hours until being cut adrift.  The resultant damage led to her interior not being done over so much as updated, with new floor tile but all the original hardware remaining in place, albeit with new upholstery and paint.

Up until the last few years the Elwha served as the international ferry between Anacortes and Sidney, British Columbia.  Falling numbers of travelers and the greater expense of running the Super have led her to be replaced by the slightly smaller (a difference of 20 cars) and far more economical Chelan.  In addition, the Elwha’s well documented stability issues (she is top heavy, though in the last few years some mitigation has been done to correct this) make her less than ideally suited for the route in the fall months when seas in Haro Strait can become quite violent.

On April 11th, 2006, the Elwha suffered a major mechanical problem when her drive motor burned out.  The ferry spent 15 months out of service, not only for the repair of the drive motor, but also to have propulsion upgrades made.  She finally returned to service in the fall of 2007—but with a six-month SOLAS certificate.  She was granted an extension on the SOLAS certification pending more work done to her plumbing system.  In the winter of 2009 WSF canceled the project and the vessel surrendered her SOLAS documents.  Later, as part of a federal grant, the repairs were made and the Elwha was re-certified, working the Anacortes-Sidney run in the fall of 2010.   For the last several seasons she has been taking over the Sidney route in the fall, where her greater capacity is needed for the domestic runs in the evening.

In July 2015, the same drive motor that failed in 2006 failed again–not as spectacularly this time as last.  The Elwha has been knocked out of service at the busiest time of year in the San Juans, replaced with the smaller Kitsap. The ferry returned to service in the fall of that year.

The ferry spent a great deal of 2018 out of service when it was discovered that there was extensive wastage of her steel decking.  The resulting repairs totaled over $25 million dollars, eating up nearly 60 percent of the maintenance budget.  This still did not complete all the repairs the vessel needs, as each Super Class has an outstanding repair backlog totally anywhere between $20-$25 million each.  In the case of the Elwha, this doesn’t include the $10 million needed to repair her auto deck; the ferry was taken from service July 28, 2019. It was decided not to put any more money into the vessel as it would have cost more than the ferry was worth to the system. The Elwha was retired from service, and was eventually tied up at Eagle Harbor to be stripped of anything useful.

As of summer 2024, she’s sits at Eagle Harbor, her name painted out, waiting for disposal.