Above the roar near the Mississippi River at LeTourneau, General Manager and Vice President Mike Gray explained how the third of the Tarzan-class oil rigs will make its way into the Gulf of Mexico this week.

&#8220We’re in the process of walking it out to the river right now,” he said. &#8220So far, we have walked approximately 210 feet, and we’ve got another 200 feet to go.”

&#8220Walking it out” refers to a days-long process in which dozens of workers move the rig from the land where it was built to the water where it will be floated away for final outfitting before joining the world’s exploratory platforms.

&#8220We jack up the rig 40 feet, push dirt underneath the stern, jack the rig back down on the dirt and tilt the rig forward 12 degrees,” Gray said. &#8220We continue that process until we get it in the river. It’s not a fast process, but it’s a good process.”

The rig is named the Hank Boswell, a member of Rowan Company’s board of directors. As its bow slid toward the Mississippi, Gray laughed about its size.

&#8220You wouldn’t think something this big could move down 12 degrees like that,” he said.

Construction of the rig began about 22 months ago, and it is expected to leave LeTourneau Landing for the Gulf of Mexico in about two days, Gray said.

The Hank Boswell sits on three legs totaling 445 feet in length and can search for crude oil and natural gas at depths of up to 40,000 feet below the sea floor. It has a hookload, or pulling capacity, of 2 million pounds. Its engines pack a horsepower of 2,150, giving it a more powerful build than its larger counterparts, the 116-E and Gorilla classes.

&#8220It’s a smaller rig with a larger hookload,” Gray said. &#8220It makes a more compact rig stronger.”

Still, floating the rig must be done at the right river stage to ensure it can pass below bridges downstream at Natchez and Baton Rouge.

The Hank Boswell and other Tarzan-class rigs are designed for drilling in areas of less hostile weather conditions, such as the Gulf of Mexico, parts of the Caribbean Sea and waters of the Middle East.

The company’s late founder, R.G. LeTourneau, was a mechanical and engineering genius who opened the facility here as a munitions plant during World War II. It evolved into a global center for manufacturing movable oil rigs that can be powered from place to place before legs are lowered to lift the platform above the waves.

LeTourneau’s Vicksburg Marine Construction, now a division of Houston-based Rowan Inc., manufactures about one oil rig each year, Gray said.

&#8220The more rigs we build, the more personnel we keep working here and that is better for the whole economy.”

Other than the Hank Boswell, LeTourneau has secured contracts for two more rigs, Gray said. The final rig to be built in the Tarzan class will be done at Sabine Pass shipyard in Texas.

Gray said about 70 people are working to get the rig into the Mississippi River. Once it reaches its destination, up to 82 workers will staff it.

Inside the rig, amenities range from a movie theater-style satellite television viewing room to Internet connections in each employee’s living quarters.

LeTourneau employs about 1,100 people, making it one of Vicksburg’s largest employers.