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YD 257

YD 257 is one of the Navy's floating cranes. The crane's barge was built by Halter Marine, Lockport, Ms., while the crane itself was built by Westmont Industries, Los Angeles, Calif.

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YD 257 History:

YD 257 is a 100-ton floating crane barge of the yard derrick (YD) series, built to support heavy-lift work along the U.S. Navy's Hampton Roads industrial waterfront. The barge hull was constructed by Halter Marine in Lockport, Mississippi, while the crane structure itself was produced by Westmont Industries in Los Angeles, California. The Navy awarded the construction contract on July 25, 1991, and the completed crane barge entered service in 1994. From the outset, YD 257 was homeported at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, with a nominal crew of around a dozen personnel to operate and maintain the crane and its associated systems.

From its delivery in the mid-1990s, YD 257 formed part of a small group of Westmont-built, 100-ton floating cranes that the Navy classifies as "W2 Westmont 100-ton floating cranes". In this role, it became one of Norfolk Naval Shipyard's two large crane barges, available for tasks that fixed shore-based cranes or smaller mobile units could not easily undertake. According to Navy crane documentation, these floating cranes are specifically identified as W2-type units assigned to the shipyards at Norfolk, Puget Sound, San Diego and Pearl Harbor, underlining their status as scarce, strategic heavy-lift assets within the shore establishment.

Through the late 1990s and 2000s, YD 257's routine work was largely unpublicized, typical for yard and district craft. Norfolk Naval Shipyard depends on its two floating barge cranes to move major carrier and submarine components on and off hull, and to reach outboard areas of ships that pier-mounted cranes cannot easily access. The shipyard notes that these cranes have also supported operations at Newport News Shipbuilding, Naval Station Norfolk, Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.

The first firmly dated public imagery of YD 257 appears on October 29, 2010, when it was photographed at Naval Base Norfolk. The photo shows the crane barge moored along the base waterfront, its tall Westmont lattice boom rigged and ready for work, illustrating how the shipyard-assigned crane can be repositioned to support projects at the neighboring fleet base when large lifts are required there.

On May 6, 2012, YD 257 was photographed at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. In this view, the crane barge lies along the shipyard's waterfront, with its boom and support structure prominent against the backdrop of workshops and shore cranes. This image underscores the craft's primary role: acting as a mobile extension of the shipyard's heavy-lift capacity whenever major components must be moved to or from ships under repair, refit or overhaul.

A particularly visible task came on October 24, 2014, when YD 257 was recorded at Newport News Shipbuilding removing part of the catwalk structure from the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65). By that time, ENTERPRISE, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, had been retired and was undergoing inactivation and dismantling work. The removal of catwalk sections was one of many complex heavy-lift operations required to strip the hull of topside equipment and prepare it for further disposition work. In this operation, YD 257's 100-ton lifting capacity and floating platform allowed it to work alongside the carrier's hull, picking up large structural sections and swinging them clear to a barge or pier area for further cutting and disposal.

Further photographs from April 13, 2016, show YD 257 operating near Norfolk Naval Shipyard, while an image dated October 12, 2016, depicts the crane barge again at the shipyard waterfront. These scenes, separated by only a few months, confirm that by the mid-2010s, YD 257 remained in active service, routinely positioned along the shipyard piers as part of the heavy industrial backdrop for carrier and submarine work.

While the details of individual heavy lifts are not always documented publicly, photography and official releases from the late 2010s and early 2020s show the kind of work YD 257 and its sister crane undertake. In January 2019, for example, a series of Navy images depict the aircraft crash and salvage crane "Tilly" being offloaded from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS GEORGE H. W. BUSH (CVN 77) at Norfolk as the ship prepared for a docking planned incremental availability. These photos describe "Tilly" being removed from the ship by a crane barge during the pre-availability offload of equipment, reflecting the typical partnership between shipboard gear and floating heavy-lift assets in Hampton Roads.

In 2020, the Navy initiated a significant overhaul and inspection period for YD 257 to ensure the long-term reliability of this critical heavy-lift asset. A request for proposals sought ship-repair contractors to perform overhaul and inspection services for the barge at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, including management and disposal of hazardous wastes; inspection and repair of the underwater hull and freeboard; and inspection, repair and preservation of watertight bulkhead frames and other structural elements.

The contract was awarded on June 23, 2020, to Lyon Shipyard in Norfolk after a competitive evaluation of bids. Shortly afterward, on June 26, 2020, a competing shipyard observed YD 257 already docked at Lyon's facility, confirming that the crane barge had been moved there for its yard period. The performance period for the overhaul was scheduled between late September and early November 2020, providing time for hull work, structural repairs and preservation that would keep the barge in service for years to come.

A fully documented association between YD 257 and a major carrier evolution appears on June 18, 2024, at Naval Station Norfolk. On that date, DVIDS imagery records sailors and Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command workers loading "Tilly", the carrier crash crane for USS GERALD R. FORD (CVN 78), onto the ship's flight deck "using a U.S. Navy crane barge (YD 257)". The photographs show the large, mobile "Tilly" suspended from the boom of YD 257 alongside the pier-side carrier, while deck crews guide the lift into position. At the time, USS GERALD R. FORD was pier-side at Naval Station Norfolk for routine maintenance, and the return of its crash crane was part of restoring full flight-deck support capability after previous yard work and testing of newer crash-crane designs.

By 2025, YD 257's importance to Norfolk Naval Shipyard's workflow was highlighted in a service story about the shipyard's crane maintenance team. Typically, one floating crane remained operational while the other underwent scheduled maintenance, ensuring continuous availability of heavy-lift capacity. In mid-June 2025, the crane maintenance team brought Yard Derrick YD 257 back into service six weeks ahead of schedule, a milestone noted in the shipyard's public communications. Imagery associated with this period shows the crane barge moored at Norfolk Naval Shipyard while maintenance personnel work aboard.

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YD 257 Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by me and shows YD 257 at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on October 29, 2010.

The photo below was taken by me and shows YD 257 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on May 6, 2012.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows YD 257 removing a part of the catwalk from USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) at Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va., on October 24, 2014.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows YD 257 near the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on April 13, 2016.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows YD 257 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on October 12, 2016.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows YD 257 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on May 31, 2025.

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