MV Chugach Ranger

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Chugach (Ranger Boat)
Alaska Heritage Resources Survey
Marine Vessel Chugach Ranger2.jpg
Chugach in 2006
USA Alaska location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationFederal Government Dock, Wrangell Narrows, Petersburg, Alaska
Coordinates 56°48′33″N132°58′21″W / 56.80914°N 132.97245°W / 56.80914; -132.97245
Arealess than one acre
Built1926 (1926)
Built byLake Union Drydock & Machine Works
ArchitectL.H. Coolidge
Architectural styleWooden motor vessel
NRHP reference No. 91001937 [1]
AHRS No.PET-200
Added to NRHPJanuary 21, 1992

The MV Chugach Ranger is a historic ranger boat whose home port is Petersburg, Alaska. She is the last wooden ranger boat in the fleet of the United States Forest Service operating in Southeast Alaska. [2] She was designed by Seattle-based boat designer L. H. Coolidge and launched in Seattle in 1925. She has been in service ever since, transporting scientists, government officials, supplies, and guests throughout the areas administered by the Forest Service in southeastern Alaska, and performing search and rescue operations. First based in Cordova, she was assigned to the Tongass National Forest in 1953, and relocated to Petersburg. She is about 62 feet (19 m) long, 14.5 feet (4.4 m) wide, and is estimated to displace 40 tons. [3]


Chugach in 1928 RangerBoatChugach.png
Chugach in 1928

The boat was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. [1] In 2015 it was brought to Wrangell for restoration and in 2016 it was decided to take it out of service. It is on display at the Wrangell museum with plans to build a permanent display halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [4] [5]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Boat for sale, with a bit of Southeast history". Sitka Sentinel. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  3. "NRHP nomination for Chugach (Ranger Boat)". National Park Service. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  4. "95-year-old Alaska Region ranger boat makes final stop on historic journeyJuly". Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture. Retrieved January 30, 2025.
  5. "Chugach Ranger will be unwrapped in time for Wrangell's Fourth of July". Stikine River Radio. Retrieved January 30, 2025.