Jumbo-class ferry

The Jumbo class are two ferries that were built by Washington State Ferries in 1972 to supersede the Super-class ferry. They have a capacity of 2,000 passengers and 188 vehicles.

Ferries in this class:
 * MV Spokane
 * MV Walla Walla

History
By the late 1960s, Washington State Ferries was in need of new vessels to replace its aging fleet that required expensive upkeep. The extremely busy Seattle–Bainbridge Island ferry route was also outgrowing the Super-class ferry ferries that were delivered just five years earlier.

The solution was an even larger class of vessels. Instead of just expanding the Super class, the state picked a new design from Phillip Spaulding, that would have a long, low look. This new Jumbo-class vessel would be 440 ft long, 87 ft wide and could accommodate 206 vehicles, at the time, the largest double-ended ferries in the world.

Todd Shipyards in Seattle was awarded the contract to construct two vessels, with plans to order two more if the ferries worked out. While the agency was pleased with the vessels, the funding for the second set of two ships never materialized.

The Jumbo-class vessels would be assigned to the Seattle–Bainbridge route for more than two decades, before they were displaced by the even larger Jumbo Mark-II-class ferry ferries. Since then, the Jumbo-class vessels have been primarily assigned to the Edmonds–Kingston and Seattle–Bremerton routes.