Another old girl still chugging along here in Port Fourchon,LA
built in 1943 by Levingston shipbuilding in Orange,TX as the Army tug LT454[LEFT][B][ATTACH]2107[/ATTACH][ATTACH]2108[/ATTACH][ATTACH]2109[/ATTACH][/B][SIZE=2][ATTACH]2110[/ATTACH]
[/SIZE]company web site:
http://globaltowing.net/vessel-jonah.php[/LEFT]
She is a nice one!!
There’s another like her that I’ve seen on the river tied up at Metarie but I forget the name.
One thing about those WWII hulls is that they were built damnef stout and out of some fine quality steel
I used to remember the old ''Wilken Falgout" running in and out of Mobile towing that Ro-Ro barge to Puerto Rico, man that was 20 years ago
I saw one of the old Army tugs on dry dock at Algiers Iron works about 10 or 12 years ago. They were converting it to twin screw, repowering it with some EMD’s if I remember correctly. I saw that boat about 2 years later, around the Ivory Coast towing a barge to Nigeria. Seems to me they had renamed it “Ranger” It was a cool looking old tug. That might be the one your thinking about Ccaptain.
MR JONAH was previouslly RANGER. maybe same tug?
Another photo of MR JONAH from stern showing her good lines.
Wilkin A Falgout-built 1970 by Main Iron
another old tug owned by this company is the Lady Ora-built 1965 by San diego Marine Construction
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Capt Dag you got my curiosity up so I did some research
The Army gave those tugs the desigination LT, which stands for large tug, there was 718 of them built, at 46 different shipyards.
It seems that LT 454 had a colorful history in WWII. It served in the Pacific theater, and was involved in a rescue of a liberty ship in the Leyte Gulf. A Japanese torpedo plane took a shot at the SS Antoine Saugrain. The ship crew saw the torpedo coming and gave it hard right rudder, but they didnot quite get turned in time. The torpedo hit the rudder, broke the shaft, and punched a hole into the engine room. The master ordered everyone to abandon ship. The LT454 rescued some of the crew along with another liberty ship. The LT 454 got the SS Antoine Saugrain under tow toward the Phillipines. The next day a Japanese dive bomber tried to sink the LT 454 but missed. Sometime the same day another torpedo plane shot at the SS Antoine Saugrain again, only this time he got a direct hit and sunk the liberty ship while she was on the tow wire of the LT454.
After the war it was sold a couple times and wound up at Caribbean Towing named the “Lady Virginia” In the mid eighties it got laid up and stayed that way for ten years. Another company bought it, moved to Algiers Iron works in1997 and had it converted to a twin screw, with a pair of 16-645 E2 EMD’s. It was renamed the “Ranger” That must have been when I saw it. It was sold again in 2002, to a different company, who rebuilt it again this time with a new house, and renamed it the Mr. Jonah.
That is kind of funny that is the same boat.
I found some pics of it from WWII, but our internet is to slow out here I can’t load them. If you want to see it there is a good one at the bottom of this page.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_Ships_of_the_United_States_Army
It was originaly a single screw diesel electric with a Cooper Bessemer engine.
I just want to say that I think those are some of the most manly men in history, that served our country like that. I mean being on a single screw tug in the middle of the Pacific, trying to rescue a liberty ship, then putting it on the tow wire, to tow it while disabled, the entire time risking being shot at by the Japs. My hero’s
The USCG Cutter Woodrush was built in Duluth, MN and launched in 1944 and is still a working vessel. She served on Lake Superior through the 1970’s, then went to Alaska.
She was purchased by the Ghana Navy in 2001, and is now working out of Sekondi Naval Base in western Ghana, West Africa.
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The photo was taken in 2011 at Sekondi.
I remember her when she was on Lake Superior.
If you want to talk about old vessels still working you have to talk about the Steamer St. Mary’s Challenger. She carries cement on the Great Lakes… built in 1906. http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/stmaryschallenger.htm
WOW, that is an impressive history. I’ll bet most people that see this old tug sitting here in Fourchon don’t know she went through all that. I’m glad she was refurbished and still in service. thanks for the info.
https://www.longislandferry.com/CommonHtml/f_C_Hen.html
Another old girl, from WWII, I had the honor of sailing on her while she was serving as a ferry for Cross Sound Ferry Services. What a beautiful vessel, to this day.
Holy SHIT! Here’s one of those old Army LT tugs for sale in British Columbia for only $130K!
Re-furbished coastal / salvage tug. 900 H.P. retractable Z drive bow thruster able to be “get home” power. Can operate with 5 man crew. $400,000 in recent upgrades.
137’ x 17’ x 31’
Builder: Levingston Shipbuilding
Build Year: 1944
Machinery:
Propulsion:
Engine Type: Detroit Diesel
Engine 1: 16V149
Engine 2: 16V149
Horse Power: 1160 Each
Reduction Gear: Lufkin Model: BC525709 Gear Ratio: 2 Speed 6.316:1 / 7.35:1
Propeller Make: Osbone Size: 114 Inches
Z Drive: Retractable Truster 16V149 900 H.P.
Auxiliary Generator Sets:1 Engine: 4 Cyl. Zexel Generator Model: Stamford
Generator KW: 60 KW
2 Starboard Engine: 671 Detroit Generator: KW: 99 KW
P.T.O.: 6-71 Detroit Driving Tow Winch
3-71 Detroit Driving Hyd Water Pump
Electronic Gear:
Radar 1: Racal - Decca Bridge Master
Radar 2: Furuno LS-4100
Fathometer 1: LCD Video Furuno
Fathometer 2: Forward Looking (Interphase)
VHF 1: ICOM IC M604
VHF 2: Sea 156
AIS JRC JHS-182
GPS: Furuno GP-32
SSB: Sea 222
Auto-Pilot: Comnav 2001
Nobel-Tec
Deck:
Tow Winch: Johnson
Type: 2 Speed
Towline Size: 1 3/4 Length: 2000’
Drums: x 1
Capacity: 2400
$130,000(CAD)
I can pony up about $25k…anybody else want to start a old timey tugboat company?
btw, somebody tell me about this two speed gearbox (hi/lo)? I’ve never heard of such an animal in a vessel? How do they work? Two bull gears and a sliding pinion?
Been on that old girl before with my father along time ago. She’s an oldie for sure they were using her up until last year. Used to pass her on the fraser river all the time.
That’s cheaper than a new house. would not have to worry about flooding for a hurricane. kids would love it but not so sure i could convince the wife…
There was a couple old boats that Turdwater wound up with that had those 2 speed lufkins in them. I think they came from twenty grand marine or maybe Zapata. I never worked on them but I had a couple friends that did. They said those boats would haul ass in high gear. Most everything Lufkin made was good equipment.
I might would be interested in putting up some money for that. You might be able to get a guvment grant or something to restore it. Not many of them things left.
One of the first chiefs jobs I had was on one of them YTB’s It had a single screw 399 cat, that boat is still down in Haiti doing harbor work.
I got another one for you, have you ever heard of a quill shaft gear box also made by Lufkin?
[QUOTE=ChiefRob;78402]I got another one for you, have you ever heard of a quill shaft gear box also made by Lufkin?[/QUOTE]
No I haven’t
you’ve got me now…tell me more
[QUOTE=c.captain;78403]No I haven’t
you’ve got me now…tell me more[/QUOTE]
You know how most of the Falk and Lufkin gear boxes had the forward and reverse cluthchs bolted together on a hub in front of the gear but behind the engine. The input shaft actually passes through the middle of the clutch’s… They made one called a quill shaft, that the input shaft went straight into the gear from the engine. The cluthces were seperate one sticking straight out the back of the gear box, almost in line with the input shaft, the other clutch was in front of the gear box but was off to the outboard side almost in line with the pinion. The clutchs were alot smaller in O.D. but much wider in width than the standard ones they used. They were awfull funny looking with the seperate clutchs sticking out both ends like that. The Dixie Progress had them in her, that boat now belongs to Allied named the “Heron”
I’ve got two of those quill shaft boxes on the former Richard Foss mounted behind a pair of EMD 12-645E4’s. What is nice about them is that instead of using a 5-6 wide inch by 4 foot diameter clutch they use a 10 inch by 2 foot clutch. They are much easier to handle in an engine room.
One big negative of the AUDREY GAIL is that she has those effing 149 series Detroits in her. I cannot abide those engines. Why couldn’t she have had two 3516 Cats instead? Now there would be a tug!
Even tho US built she would not have coastwise trade again without an Act of Congress but could tow foreign, but there wouldn’t be much point of bringing her back to US flag then. Still for $130k it’s a good deal even if you only scrapped her.
[QUOTE=87cr250r;78408]I’ve got two of those quill shaft boxes on the former Richard Foss mounted behind a pair of EMD 12-645E4’s. What is nice about them is that instead of using a 5-6 wide inch by 4 foot diameter clutch they use a 10 inch by 2 foot clutch. They are much easier to handle in an engine room.[/QUOTE]
The real advantage to the quill shaft gears is that you don’t have to pull a blower off one bank of the EMD like you do most of the time with a regular clutch.
The old Progress had 12-645 E2’s in her, probably the same size gears as yours.