The Jumbo Class
		Five years after the highly successful Super Class ferries sailed in to service for Washington State Ferries, the State found that they weren't going to be enough.  Even the addition of the Kulshan didn't help much.  The fleet was suffering from expensive upkeep and obsolescence; four vessels were still of all-wood construction, only one which, the Vashon could still do a day's work.  WSF assigned her to the San Juans to help out with traffic there.      Plans for a "Super Super Class" were drawn up.  Later they were dubbed the "Jumbo Class", a name fitting of vessels that were 440 feet long, 87 feet wide, and that could pack 206 cars onto their decks. The massive vessels would be the largest double ended ferries in the world.      Todd Shipyard in Seattle was awarded the contract.  Plans originally called for a total of  four vessel to be built.  The first two would be put in service and then, based on their success, two more would be built.  The first two were named Spokane and Walla Walla.  As it turned out, while both the ferries proved their worth, the two sisters to have been built never were constructed.  The funding wasn't available.      The interiors of the two vessels reflected popular color trends and space-age    design of the early 1970s: the dominante colors were orange and yellow. The complaints about the boats were varied, from the music that was piped    in irked many passengers who enjoyed the quiet or low rumble of conversation    while working, to perhaps the largest blemish on the new boats-- the vibration    they had a full speed.  The boats had  a shake not seen on the Sound since the Kalakala  had been retired some five years earlier.      The complaints didn't stop there.  When the Walla Walla was assigned to  the San Juans, the grumbles  from both north and south Sound were fierce and immediate.  The residents of the islands complained about   her large size overwhelmed the islands and her wake swamped sailboats.      Residents down south wanted to know why a vessel built with federal mass transit dollars was being assigned to a route with the lowest passenger ridership in the fleet.       Avoiding conflicts from boths sides, WSF removed the boat, reassigning the Walla Walla. along side her sister on the  Seattle-Winslow route.  The grumbling  eventually faded and  the ferries remained on the route  until the Mark II's replaced them in the late 1990's--a run of more than 20 years. Above: the Spokane nears completion while the work on the Walla Walla is well underway. Author's collection.
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Launch photos courtesy of Brandon Moser.