Veteran ships of the world

[ombugge]

C-2 type Australian Reef, 10176 dwt.:

From my collection, Australian Reef in Montreal on July 21, 1967. Harry Stott photo.

Cisco Oct 14, 2024 13:52
Launched in 1942 as attack transport USS Comet. In 1946 to the United States Maritime Commision. 1948 sold to United States Lines for their East Coast North America / East Coast Australia service along with a number of her sisters. Renamed Pioneer Reef.
Mid 60s Farrell Lines took over the service, ships renamed with ‘Australian’ prefix. Renamed ‘Australian Reef’ in 1965. Scrapped 1970.

metropolis1210
Nov 5, 2024 11:50 (2 hours ago) • edited
She was turbine powered, consuming 45 tons of bunker C at 14 kts. No Greek shipowners were keen to tramp these types.

Source: https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3769079?days=1&timestamp=1728663000&page=1&navList=mostPopular

Australian Reef (Freighter (C2-S-B1); built 1943, in Oakland, CA, USA; 6221 tons; naming history: Comet (U.S.S.) (1943); Pioneer Reef (1948); Australian Reef (1965); registration numbers: 244020 (US); AP.166 (US Navy))
Source: Shipindex.org

[ombugge]

A real veteran ship that is still in operation:

M/S Nya Skärgården, Jönköping. Photo: Bengt Oberger - Own work

M/S “Göteborg” leaving Gothenburg on her way to the archipelago,
May 30, 2023, Photo: [MKPhotography]

https://www.faktaomfartyg.se/nya_skargarden_1915.htmspotting.com/photos/gallery?user=176151

[ChaplainDarrell]

And now a liberty ship hatch costs about as much as an entire ship costs. Trying to imagine building a ship in 42 days. Is the Liemba the ship used to transport the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jone?

[ChaplainDarrell]

Don’t know if she made this thread or not but the Cuyahoga belongs here. I was permanent party at Yorktown Training Center and stood on her deck while we were doing some work on her. She was to OCS like the Eagle is to the Academy. She was rammed and sank by a freighter in 1978 with a lose of eleven crewmen.

[ombugge]

Quite a story:

The incident took place on October 20th, 1978, in the Chesapeake Bay, during a training voyage for Officer Candidates. Twenty-nine were aboard the vessel, including Officer Candidates and permanent crew. That evening a lookout spotted a navigation light on the horizon and reported it to the Commanding Officer who mistook the navigation light as a small fishing vessel traveling northbound. Instead the vessel was a much larger freighter, the 521 foot Santa Cruz II, traveling southbound. As a result of the misidentification, the Cuyahoga turned to port, placing the Cuyahoga in the path of the rapidly approaching Santa Cruz II. As the likelihood of collision became apparent, the Cuyahoga and Santa Cruz II attempted to take evasive actions; however, it was too late. The vessels collided, creating a hole in the Santa Cruz II and sinking the 125 foot Cuyahoga in less than two minutes. The Santa Cruz II rescued 18 survivors from the Cuyahoga and stayed on-scene until help arrived. The remaining 11 men were lost.

Source: https://www.cgaalumni.org/s/1043/uscga/index.aspx?sid=1043&gid=1&pgid=4724&cid=11020&ecid=11020&crid=0&calpgid=3134&calcid=6778

[ombugge]

A veteran ship that appears on the “Norwegian Shipping Calendar 2025”:

She was a regular on the Great Lakes in the 1960s, chartered by Orient Mid-East Line.
Run aground just outside the harbour of Chicago in 1963 and was among the last ships to get out that autumn.
Source: Redirecting...
Being pull off after grounding in Chicago:

DRA43819600220003 HERMION trekkes av grunnen. Bilde via Per Sundfær.

M/S Hermion in Moji, Japan 1969.

Vancouver, December 2,1967, City of Vancouver Archives Reference code CVA 447-5011 Photo by Walter E. Frost

M/V Hermion: skipshistorie

PS> The calendar can be ordered at:

Norwegian Shipping Calendar 2025 - VORMEDAL FORLAG

[ChaplainDarrell]

The old buck-and-a-quarters were one of the best ships the Coast Guard ever had. For Sale: 125-Foot Former Coast Guard Cutter, Ready To Cruise, $90,000 - PassageMaker

[ombugge]

Royal Norwegian Navy’s LCT KNM Maursund. “The ship that grounded on every trip”:

Loading reindeer to be shipped from Alta to Stjernøya and Sørøya, their summer feeding ground.
The crew had to help the Sami herd the animals on board. We could have approx. 700 reindeer on board each trip. Flushed the deck afterwards by putting the bow ramp into the sea at low speed.
I was an artilleryman, 80-81, and more or less permanent helmsman on board.

Text and Photo: Roar Høifødt

Here is a special picture of L4504 KNM Maursund, before conversion. In the summer of 1993, she had a transport assignment to England, and is here on a sandy bottom, in the mouth of the Thames, Southend. Photo: Tor Melsbø

It is still going on every spring and autumn:

Reindeer on their way to winter grazing on the mainland after spending the summer on an island on the coast of Finnmark. Photo: Ina Therese Sara.
Source: Tusenvis av reinsdyr tar nå ferge hjem etter sommerbeite - Landbruksdirektoratet

PS> This is “KNM Maursund” after refit in 1993. (Now in civilian ownership):
KNM “Maursund” was one of the three Norwegian landing craft built around 1972. In 1993 it was rebuilt, and later sold for civilian use in 2003.** **It is Seaworks A/S in Harstad that owns “Maursund”, and it is used, among other things, a. for transporting reindeer to and from the islands in Finnmark, as well as emergency vessels in oil spills. Many who served in Northern Norway in their first service will probably remember these vessels, then in a slightly different version. They were rebuilt in 1996.
Photo of “Maursund” in Kr.sund:.

Source: Ex landgangsfartøy

[ombugge]

Veteran ship or an AI creation?:

Source: Redirecting...
See comments.

What says the experts on US historical vessels on this forum?

[ombugge]

The passenger ship “Venus”, blt. 1931, broken up in 1968.
She sailed on the route between Bergen - Stavanger and Newcastle, except when she was commandeered by the Germans during WWII.
Later also on cruise to Madeira and the Canary Isle,

Here is a video about this famous ship, known as “Queen of North Sea” and the pride of Bergen: (Norwegian with English subtitles)

MS Venus, Nordsjøens dronning.

M/S Venus: skipshistorie

Late at night on Jan. 19-1937 Venus was en route to Newcastle in a storm when an SOS was heard from the cargo vessel Trym , which was en route from Kirkenes to Middlesbrough. Venus went to assist and remained standing by Trym , with the winds increasing to hurricane force. Early in the morning of the 21st Venus launched a lifeboat with 9 volunteers under the leadership of 2nd Mate Rolf Andreassen. In a spectacular rescue operation, in which Trym 's Ordianry Seaman Perry Opsahl jumped into the wild seas with a line to the lifeboat, 6 of Trym 's complement were rescued over to Venus . In a last effort to save the others, Captain Dreyer chose to maneuver Venus ’ bow close to Trym so that those still on board could get across. The success of this rescue operation became headlines in all of Europe’s newspapers. In the same hurricane the company’s Leda saved the crew from the cargo vessel Karmt of Haugesund, while Jupiter saved the crew from Weni of Stavanger, and Lyra saved the crew from the Swedish fishing vessel Nordland .

Venus and Trym . Picture received from Jan Goedhart, Holland (painting by Frank Mason R.A.).

Source: Norwegian Homefleet WW II - M/S Venus

[ombugge]

Once upon a time ships were launched like this:

M/S " SANCT SVITHUN " launching. - Hurtigruten ship - delivered 1949 - stack discharge May 6, 1950 - 450 passenger capacity and 17 knots speed - Had a sad fate, but that’s another story - from my collection. Torleif Andersen Heggøy

She sunk in 1962 under tragic circumstances:
https://www.captainsvoyage.com/hurtigruten/story-of-sanct-svithun.html

[ombugge]

M/S Thorcarrier, blt. 1959:

https://skipshistorie.net/Tramp%20og%20linje/Tekster/LTK00119591300000%20THORSCARRIER.htm