b'VESSEL:Battery SteeleOPERATOR:Casco Bay LinesFOGHORN FOCUS NAVAL ARCHITECT:Elliott Bay Design GroupBUILDER:Senseco Marine LLCTYPE:Passenger and vehicle ferryLooking to spring of 2026, a new passenger and vehicle ferry is expected to arrive in Maine to join the Casco Bay Linesfleet,replacinganexistingdiesel-poweredvessel. Constructiononthehybrid-electricvesselcontinuesat Senesco Marine LLC. By mid-September, all the engine room equipment was in place and secured on their foun-dations. This included two generators, three transformers, the main boiler for the heating systems, and a variety of smaller units.The ferry, Battery Steele, will have capacity for 15 vehicles and 599 passengers spread across three decks, including a sun deck with unobstructed views. The double-ended con-figuration eliminates the need to turn the vessel around, reducing the required speed and energy consumption for the ferry even though it is larger than the vessel it is re-placing. The vessel will charge using a shoreside charging system while docked in Portland and will operate in bat-tery-powered mode whenever possible. The hybrid propul-sion system in the new vessel is expected to eliminate up to 800 metric tons of COemissions annually. 2Once the vessel arrives in Maine, there will be some com-missioning work associated with getting the vessel and the charger in sync and crew training and familiarization is PHOTOS OPPOSITE PAGE: CASCO BAY LINES; PHOTO THIS PAGE: FLAGSHIP CRUISES & EVENTSplanned to start in late spring. VESSEL:Nashville former vessel. Two D13 series Volvos with 400 hp. rating OPERATOR:Manthey Hospitality at 1,800 rpm have been added to run in tandem with the NAVAL ARCHITECT:DeJong & Lebet, Inc. steam engines both for redundancy in propulsion as well TYPE:Dinner cruise boat as safety. Also included in the overhaul are John Deere gensets, Twin Disc gears, Fernstrum coolers, and thrust-Full steam ahead will be the motto for the Nashville, aers by IMTRA. paddlewheel steamboat undergoing a complete renovation andslatedtojoinMantheyHospitalityinitsnamesakeThe 400-passenger steel monohull boat will offer mostly Nashville, Tenn., in 2026. The vessel previously sailed assightseeing tours starting in the summer of 2026. It will the Julia Belle Swain. be one of the last three operational authentic steamboats on the Western Rivers. The intention is to have the steam The steamboat was originally constructed in 1971 andengine run every day as part of a mission to tell the history used steam engines built in 1915 and repurposed from aof the river in which steamboats played a significant role.FOGHORN 36'