KLAHOWYA

CLASS: Evergreen State

BUILT/REBUILT:  1958/1995 Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Co, Seattle, WA.

OFFICIAL NUMBER: D277872 CALL SIGN: WK7107

L/B/D: 310 x 73 x 16 GROSS/NET TONS: 2055/1397 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 800/ 100 cars as built, 87 by 2018 PROPULSION: Diesel Electric, 2500 HP SPEED: 13 knots   

NAME TRANSLATION: Chinook, “greetings”, or “how do you do?”

FINAL DISPOSITION: Retired in 2017.  Awaiting disposal as of 2020.

HISTORY

Up until the summer of 2014, the Klahowya was a record-breaker in the fleet: she held down the same route with very rare exception for over fifty years.

Entering service on December 9th, 1958, the ferry served almost exclusively the Southworth-Fauntleroy-Vashon route. Being such a fixture on the route, nearly all photos taken around the north end of island showed either the Klahowya or another long-time worker on the route, the Quinault.

Her sister Tillikum joined the route after new vessels replaced her at Kingston, and for many years the two sisters worked alongside one another, with the Issaquah acting as the number 1 ferry. A few times in the 2000’s the Evergreen State was moved to the route to fill in, creating an extremely unique moment in ferryboating: all the sisters of a class working the same route.

The sudden withdrawal of the Steel Electric Class resulted in some serious boat shuffling for Washington State Ferries.  For the first time the Klahowya left her home waters for the San Juan Islands to work as the inter-island vessel—where crews took an instant liking to the ferry and expressed their disappointment when she left to return to Vashon Island.

After earning her gold stripes in 2008, the Klahowya started showing some signs of her age. Her WWII era drive motors became a little more fragile, but with careful care of engineering crews both on board and at Eagle Harbor, the ferry ran steadily.

In 2014 with the Evergreen State “retired,” the Klahowya left for her first new permanent reassignment in her career: inter-island vessel in the San Juan Islands. After a series of mechanical failures plagued the fleet in the summer of 2014, the idea to shuffle the Klahowya off to retirement was reconsidered. It was decided to keep her in service until at least the Chimacum was ready to take her place on the Seattle-Bremerton run.

The Klahowya‘s last day of service was Tuesday, 10 January 2017*. She was replaced on the inter-island run by her slightly younger sister, Tillikum.

She currently sits at the WSF yard in Eagle Harbor, awaiting disposal.

*Courtesy of Rex Carlaw.