A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships that cannot move well on their own, such as those in crowded harbours or narrow canals, or those that cannot move at all, such as barges, disabled ships, log rafts, or oil platforms. Some are ocean-going, some are icebreakers or salvage tugs. Early models had steam engines, and modern ones have diesel engines. Many have deluge guns, which help in firefighting, especially in harbours.
Russel Brothers Limited was a Canadian steel boat builder, diesel engine manufacturer and steel fabricator. The company operated in Fort Frances, Ontario from 1907 to 1937 and then in Owen Sound, Ontario from 1937 to 1994.
The Ville-class harbour tugboats are a class of tugboats employed by the Royal Canadian Navy.
The Glen-class tug is a class of naval tugboat operated by the Royal Canadian Navy. Constructed in Canada, the class entered service between 1975 and 1977. The five vessels that comprise the class are split between the two major naval bases of the Royal Canadian Navy. The Royal Canadian Navy operated a fleet of tugboats during the Second World War which were also named the Glen class. The vessels of the current Glen class are each named after one of the vessels of the earlier class.
The Santa Fe Railroad barged rail cars across the San Francisco Bay for much of the 20th century as there is no direct rail link to the San Francisco peninsula. In the post World War II period a fleet of three tugs moved the barges: the Paul P. Hastings, the Edward J. Engel, and the John R. Hayden. After cross-bay float service had ended and the tugs had been sold, the Hastings sank off Point Arena, California in water too deep to raise. The Engel sank off Alameda, California and is expected to be raised. The Hayden remains afloat and in service in Oregon.
Atlantic Salvor is a US-flagged ocean-going tugboat owned and operated by Donjon Marine of Hillside, New Jersey. Sailing under her original name Mister Darby until 1998, the boat was built by Halter Marine Inc. and launched on 1 February 1977. She was involved in the salvage operation following the wreck of New Carissa.
Luna is a historic tugboat normally berthed in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Luna was designed in 1930 by John G. Alden and built by M.M. Davis and Bethlehem Steel. She is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. In 1985, the Luna was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
Alligator boats were a type of amphibious vehicle used in the forestry industry throughout Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime provinces of Canada and the northern United States from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. These boats were so named because of their ability to travel between lakes by pulling themselves with a winch across land. Alligators served as a "warping tug". They towed log booms across lakes and then portaged themselves using a winch to the next body of water. The rugged, steam-powered tugs were one of the pioneers in the mechanization of the forest industry in North America.
The Glen-class tugs were a class of tugboats of the Royal Canadian Navy built during the Second World War. There were three designs of the tugboat; two were of steel-hulled construction and the other was wooden-hulled. Of the 20 of the class built, 16 were of the steel-hulled type; 11 built by Russel Bros. of Owen Sound, Ontario and 5 by Canadian Dredge & Dock Co., Kingston, Ontario. Of the four wooden-hulled type; three were built by McKenzie Barge and Derrick, Vancouver, British Columbia, and one by LeBlanc Shipbuilding, Weymouth, Nova Scotia. All but one – Glendyne – were sold into commercial service after the war.
USCGC Point Swift (WPB-82312) was an 82-foot (25 m) Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1961 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1961 was not to name cutters under 100 feet (30 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82312 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Swift in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (20 m).
The Point Valour is a Canadian tug which was built by the Davie Shipbuilding Company in 1958 and is hull # 621. The Point Valour was originally ordered by the Foundation Maritime company and the original name was the Foundation Valour. There are two other "sister" boats to the Valour and the original names are Foundation Victor and the Foundation Vibert. The Point Valour is 98' long by 28' wide, but because of the rubber strips and the tires which are chained to the side of the bulwarks to act as bumpers the tug is approximately 104' long by approximately 30' wide and has a reinforcing hull able to break ice up to five feet thick. The propeller on this tug measure approximately 9' straight across. Unlike many other tugs which are "modernized", there has been very little done to this tug - most of it is all original from 1958.
MV Miseford is a tugboat built in 1915 by M. Beatty & Sons Ltd. in Welland, Ontario.
The Bhim class of tugboats is a class of service watercraft built by Tebma Shipyard Limited, a subsidiary of Bharati Shipyard Ltd, for the Indian navy.
M/V Robert W. is a tugboat that was built by the Russel Brothers Ltd. shipbuilding company in Owen Sound, Ontario, in 1948. The tug is 60 feet long, 16 feet wide, 8 feet 4 inches in depth, and of 48.5 gross tons. It was originally powered by two Cummins NHMS 6-cylinder marine diesel engines originally producing 175 hp each but has been repowered with 2 cummins model NT380M marine engines producing approximately 400 BHP each; the tug originally had a Sheppard 32-volt DC diesel generator for auxiliary power but has been replaced in the mid-1990s with a Lister Diesel model ST2 2-cylinder air-cooled diesel 120-volt AC generator. It was built in 1948 for the Long Lac Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd in Toronto, Ontario, until purchased by Thunder Bay Marine Services in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1990. In 2 locations on the Robert W. there are factory brass plaques that state the vessel is boat number 791, length is 60 feet, beam is 16 feet, and year 1948.
MV Okanagan was a tugboat that operated on Okanagan Lake, Penticton, British Columbia, from 1947 to 1972. It was the largest and last Canadian Pacific-operated tugboat on Okanagan Lake and its retirement marked the end of Canadian Pacific’s service on B.C.’s inland lakes and rivers, as well as 80 years of service on Okanagan Lake. During service, the Okanagan pushed railway barges up and down the lake and broke ice during winter.
'Brompton Caribou' is 28 feet 6 inches long, 7 feet 6 inches wide and has a depth of 2 feet 9 inches boat commonly known as a "Gator Tug", or "Winch boat" made by the Russel-Hipwell Engines Company in 1955 and is hull number 1058. It is made with a welded 3/16" steel hull in the clinker configuration and a cabin made of 18 gauge steel. It has a cable steering system with a plate steel rudder, 26" diameter Propeller with a rather heavy duty shield around the prop made of round bar to shop logs and debris from damaging the propeller, English made Lister model FR4 4 cylinder water-cooled diesel engine producing 36 hp at 1,800 rpm and a Twin Disc model MG-61 reversing marine gearbox with a 3:1 gear ratio. This boat also originally had a Russel-Hipweel winch, model W-434 that was driven by a PTO on the front of the engine but it has since been removed. The standard models have a simple rectangle cabin with a large sliding windows on both the port and starboard sides, a smaller sliding window and a door that opens to the inside on the front, and a little sliding door on the back of the cabin. They usually have the exhaust pipe going out through the side of the hull approximately a foot below the bulwarks on an angle facing aft, but many have had the pipe removed and installed going up through the roof of the cabin.
The Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors (GM) was a leading research, design and production facility of diesel engines from the 1930s to the 1960s that was based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Diesel Engine Division designed several 2 stroke diesel engines for submarines, tugboats, destroyer escorts, Patapsco-class gasoline tankers and other marine applications. Emergency generator sets were also built around the Cleveland Diesel and were installed in many US warships. The division was created in 1938 from the GM-owned Winton Engine Corporation and was folded into the GM Electro-Motive Division in 1962. The engines continue in use today on older tugs.
The Type V ship is a United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) designation for World War II tugboats. Type V was used in World War II, Korean War and the Vietnam War. Type V ships were used to move ships and barges. Type V tugboats were made of either steel or wood hulls. There were four types of tugboats ordered for World War II. The largest type V design was the sea worthy 186-foot (57 m) long steel hull, V4-M-A1. The V4-M-A1 design was used by a number of manufacturers; a total of 49 were built. A smaller steel hull tugboat was the 94-foot (29 m) V2-ME-A1; 26 were built. The largest wooden hull was the 148-foot (45 m) V3-S-AH2, of which 14 were built. The smaller wooden hull was the 58-foot (18 m) V2-M-AL1, which 35 were built. Most V2-M-AL1 tugboats were sent to England for the war efforts under the lend-lease act. The Type V tugs served across the globe during World War II including: Pacific War, European theatre and in the United States. SS Farallon and other Type V tugs were used to help built Normandy ports, including Mulberry harbour, on D-Day, June 6, 1944 and made nine round trips to Normandy to deliver Phoenix breakwaters.
Fulton Shipyard was a shipbuilding company in Antioch, California. The shipyard was founded in 1924 by Frank Fulton and Angeline Fulton Fredericks. To support the World War II demand for ships, Fulton Shipyard built minesweepers, tugboats, and troopships. The shipyard was located on the Stockton Channel at 701 Fulton Shipyard Rd, Antioch, near Antioch pier and the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. The site was the former Jarvis Brothers, opened in 1918, then Laurtzen shipyard. In 1977 the site became the California Corporation. The shipyard closed in 1999 and the land is owned by the Fulton Family Trust. Fulton Shipyard was on the San Joaquin River and an inland port located more than seventy nautical miles from the ocean, emptying into Suisun Bay. Fulton Shipyard was featured in a 1914 movie called The Stolen Yacht, a short drama film released on November 5, 1914. Frank Fulton and Angeline's son James Lloyd Fulton became an operator of a Fulton Shipyard tugboat.
Splinter fleet or Splinter navy was a nickname given to the United States wooden boats used in World War II. The boats served in many different roles during the war. These boats were built in small boatyards on the West coast and East coast, Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. They could be built quickly, in just 60 to 120 days. Most of the boats were built by boatyards that already had the tools and knowledge from building yachts, sailboats and motor boats. Many were built by craftsmen in family-owned small businesses. Under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program and War Shipping Administration contracts went out to over fifty boatyards across the country. The boats were built for the US Navy, the, United States Army Air Forces, United States Coast Guard, and US Army. Some of the wooden boats went to Allied nations on the Lend-Lease program.
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