New Corps Boats Named For Fallen Georgia Soldiers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, has now received three new hydrographic survey vessels which will play a vital role across the Savannah District’s area of responsibility, and have named each boat after a fallen Soldier from Georgia.

The 30-foot Wright is named for Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, the 27-foot Chisholm is named for Sgt. Tyrone Lanard Chisholm, and the 23-foot Beale for Sgt. 1st Class John C. Beale.

The District will use the vessels for missions that include key waterways such as the Savannah Harbor, the third busiest container port in the U.S., the Brunswick Harbor, the largest roll-on/roll-off port, and the 161-mile stretch of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway along Georgia’s coast.

Army Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, a native of Lyons, was a Special Forces engineer assigned to Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Airborne, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He lost his life Oct. 4, 2017, during a reconnaissance patrol while deployed to Niger, West Africa, in support of training and advising the Nigerien military.

Army Sergeant Tyrone Chisholm, a Savannah native, was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado. He lost his life Nov. 11, 2005, while conducting combat patrols through the streets of Tal Afar, Iraq, serving as a gunner on an M1A2 Abrams tank in support of the fight against terrorism.

Army Sergeant 1st Class John C. Beale, of Riverdale, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 108th Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition Squadron, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard, based in Calhoun. He lost his life June 4, 2009, during an attack while traveling through Kapisa Province in northeastern Afghanistan, in support of preparing Afghan security and police forces to establish a sustainable defense for Afghanistan.

The vessels were procured with Fiscal Year 2023 funds, and it took two years to build the vessels to meet the District’s needs. The final inspections of the three new survey vessels were completed April 8, 2025, at the Fowl River Marina in Theodore, Ala. The inspections were carried out to identify and address any remaining deficiencies and to make final adjustments before the District accepts the vessels from the manufacturer. During the inspections, District personnel thoroughly evaluated each vessel to confirm proper installation and functionality of all equipment, and ensure the vessels meet required performance and safety standards.

The vessels will support a variety of critical missions including surveys to assess channel conditions, monitoring dredging activities, and underwater obstacle detection. They will also transport staff and equipment to project sites.

“These new vessels are a significant upgrade in efficiency, safety, and capability compared to the ones they’re replacing,” said Bodenrader. “The older boats were not originally designed for survey operations and are equipped with outdated technology. The new vessels are purpose-built to meet the demands of our mission and are outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment.”

Some of the high-tech equipment onboard the vessels include radar systems, chart plotters, navigation lights, and interferometric multi-beam sonar. Radar on boats is primarily used for navigation and collision avoidance, particularly in situations with limited visibility like fog, rain, or at night. It detects objects around the boats using radio waves, helping to identify other vessels, landmasses, and potential hazards.

Chart plotters are devices used in marine navigation that integrate GPS data with electronic navigational charts to display real-time position and movement of boats on a screen.

Navigation lights, also known as nav lights or running lights, are colored lights displayed on boats to indicate their size, activity, and direction of travel, helping other boaters avoid collisions, especially at night or in low visibility conditions.

“The interferometric multi-beam is a fusion between a side scan sonar system and a multibeam sonar system,” explained Miles Saunders, chief of hydrographic survey, with the District’s Coastal Projects Office. “This new sonar system which will be installed on the Beale, excels in shallow water and will greatly facilitate our work in upper estuaries and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.”

All three vessels are also equipped with automatic identification systems. This is a maritime safety technology that works by broadcasting a vessel’s identity, location, course, speed, and other relevant data, allowing other vessels and shore-based facilities to track and monitor its movements.

“The AIS is an added layer of safety,” said Bodenrader. “If something were to go wrong, we’d immediately know the vessel’s location.”

The Chisholm is additionally outfitted with a bow gate, which is a ramp for loading and unloading cargo and personnel from the vessel to shore. This feature allows the vessel to be used as a landing craft.

“There are places within our AOR that we cannot access by road,” said Bodenrader. “Now we can transport USACE team members vehicles, and other assets to those areas with less difficulty.”

Each vessel was transported separately, over land, to the District’s Coastal Project Office along the Savannah River after some minor deficiencies were corrected. The last one arrived April 24, 2025.

To see more photos of the vessels, visit our Flickr album at https://www.flickr.com/photos/savannahcorps/albums/72177720324989829