USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52)

USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52)

USS Salvor (ARS-52) is a Safeguard-class salvage ship, the second United States Navy ship of that name.

Salvor was laid down on 16 September 1983 by Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; launched on 28 July 1984; and commissioned on 14 June 1986.

Salvor is the third ship of the auxiliary rescue and salvage class of vessel constructed for the US Navy. The rugged construction of this steel-hulled vessel, combined with her speed and endurance, make Salvor well-suited for rescue and salvage operations throughout the world. The hull below the waterline is ice-strengthened. Her propulsion plant can develop 4200 shaft horsepower with four Caterpillar 399 diesel engines coupled in pairs to two shafts. She is fitted with a Controllable Reversible Pitch (CRP) propeller within a Kort nozzle on each shaft. The CRP propeller/Kort nozzle combination produces greater thrust and more maneuverability control than conventional propellers. Salvor is also configured with a bow thruster which provides athwartship thrust for additional control of the bow when the ship's speed is less than five knots (9 km/h).

In 1995 and again in 2000, Salvor was the United States Pacific Fleet's winner of the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for most battle-ready ship of her type.

USS Salvor was decommissioned and transferred to the Military Sealift Command in January 2007. Salvor was redesignated as USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52). The ship has undergone modifications for civilian crewing as well as automation and control system upgrades at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.