C9-S-81f barge carrier

The C9-S-81f is a United States Maritime Administration design for a lighter-aboard-ship barge carrier, a type known as LASH, and Avondale Industries built two of them in 1980 at its yard near New Orleans. Both were built for Waterman Steamship Corporation, and the second, the Edward Rutledge, was christened there in 1980. Designed by Friede and Goldman of New Orleans, she was a single-screw, turbine-propelled ship of about 40,900 deadweight tons and 845 feet in length, with a service speed of 22 knots. She was arranged to carry 89 barges of 370 long tons each, loaded in seven holds and on deck. The sister ship Reliance was renamed George II in 2024 after a conversion from steam power to LNG-fueled diesel and returned to commercial service.