The senior marine coordinator for the first offshore wind farm in the United States will show how it was assembled at an upcoming meeting in Bristol.

Capt. John O'Keeffe, who supervised marine supply and construction of the Deepwater Wind project off Block Island, will give a PowerPoint presentation of the 30 megawatt, 5 turbine wind farm, which went online last month to provide most of Block Island's electric power and delivers additional power to the New England regional grid. He is scheduled to speak at the Men's Club meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Rogers Free Library, 525 Hope St., Bristol. The event is free and open to the public.

The $290 million wind farm construction began about 16 months ago and included about 300 local workers who transported and assembled the support towers, turbines and 240-foot long blades from ProvPort and Quonset Point to the site three miles south of Block Island.

Each turbine tower consists of three sections, with a total height of about 600 feet, and a total weight of about 440 tons. The preassembled parts were seen by many bay watch enthusiasts shipped aboard flat decked crane ships, two from Louisiana and the largest, Brave Tern, from Norway.

The vessel to be used in transporting workers to the wind towers was built by Blount Boats in Warren at a cost of $4 million. President Marcia Blount said of the vessel designed specifically for turbine transfer service, “We are honored to be chosen to build the first U.S. flagged wind farm vessel in the United States."

According to a Deepwater website, "Our technology used around the globe can harness the strong and steady ocean winds off our shores, transform them into clean, cost-effective electricity, and transmit that power to where it is needed. We’re able to build wind farms in deep ocean waters barely visible from shore."

The Block Island Wind Farm will reduce air pollution for years to come, the company has said. Block Island has been principally reliant on diesel.

Mr. O'Keeffe has served in a number of maritime positions including port captain at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, senior chief mate of two 134-foot brigantines operating worldwide at the Sea Education Association, and first officer aboard STV Spirit of Bermuda, a 115-foot, three-masted wooden schooner during her 7,000-mile transatlantic voyage.

He also served as master of the classic John Alden designed schooners Wendameen and Bagheera for the Portland Schooner Company, and first mate aboard SSV Liberty Clipper, sailing from Boston to Key West.

He served more than eight years overseas in the U.S. Army as a Cavalry Scout in reconnaissance. He also studied international ocean law, maritime studies, nautical science and oceanography at the Sea Education Association and University of Rhode Island. He has volunteered with the American Red Cross.

Upcoming Men's Club speakers include Roger Menard, an astronomy buff and star gazer from Westport. He will give us a look at the heavens from his PowerPoint of view in the Herreshoff Room before we go outdoors and look through several telescopes at whatever stars we trust will be visible that evening; on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

On Tuesday, March 9, Professor Heidi E. Lane, Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy and Director of the Greater Middle East Research Study Group at the US Naval War College in Newport, will speak about the ascendency of ISIS and other worldwide Arab Spring developments.