Tug Hawk is an ocean-going escort tractor tug owned and operated by Seabulk. Tug Hawk has been contracted on-and-off since 2017 to tow SpaceX droneships offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
Hawk is a 6,700 horsepower tugboat chartered by SpaceX for recovery operations. SpaceX droneships cannot move themselves over long distances – to and from landing zones – and require a tugboat to tow them hundreds of kilometers downrange. Tug Hawk was first contracted for the EchoStar 105/SES-11 mission in October 2017 and has since repeated the role more than 18 times. Hawk is the most experienced droneship tugboat that SpaceX uses on a regular basis, having worked the role for three years.
Vital Statistics
Owner: Seabulk
Operator: Seabulk
Year Built: 1995
IMO: 1033239
Length: 63.5m
Width: 12.2m
Joined SpaceX Fleet: 2017
Missions
| Mission | Role |
|---|---|
| CRS-21 | Droneship towing |
| Starlink V1 L15 | Droneship towing |
| Crew DM-2 | Droneship towing |
| Starlink V1 L5 | Droneship towing |
| Starlink V1 L4 | Droneship towing |
| Starlink V1 L3 | Droneship towing |
| Starlink V1 L2 | Droneship towing |
| JCSAT-18 / Kacific-1 | Droneship towing |
| CRS-19 | Droneship towing |
| Starlink V1 L1 | Droneship towing |
| Es'Hail 2 | Droneship towing |
| Telstar 18V | Droneship towing |
| Merah Putih | Droneship towing |
| Telstar 19V | Droneship towing |
| TESS | Droneship towing |
| Falcon Heavy Demo | Droneship towing |
| KoreaSat 5A | Droneship towing |
| EchoStar 105/SES-11 | Droneship towing |
For the outcome of each mission, click here.