Fort Brown was a military post of the United States Army in Cameron County, Texas, during the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. Established in 1846, it was the first US Army military outpost of the recently annexed state. Confederate Army troops stationed there saw action during the American Civil War. In the early 20th century, it was garrisoned in relation to military activity over border conflicts with Mexico. Surviving elements of the fort were designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Arthur Foss, built in 1889 as Wallowa at Portland, Oregon, is likely the oldest wooden tugboat afloat in the world. Its 79-year commercial service life began with towing sailing ships over the Columbia River bar, and ended with hauling bundled log rafts on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1968. Northwest Seaport now preserves the tug as a museum ship in Seattle, Washington.
Christeen is the oldest oyster sloop in the United States and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992.
Priscilla is a classic oyster dredging sloop and museum ship at the Long Island Maritime Museum. Built in 1888, it is the oldest surviving boat from the Great South Bay oyster fleet, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It is berthed near the Modesty, another National Historic Landmark sloop.
The Santa Fe Railroad tugboats were used by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to barge 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 1992, in water too deep to raise. The Engel sank off Alameda, California in 2007 and was raised and scrapped in the winter of 2013-14. The Hayden remains afloat and in service in Oregon.
USS Naugatuck (YTM-753) was a tugboat acquired by the U.S. Navy from the U.S. Army. She was assigned to harbor duty at New York City harbor.
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.
Baltimore is a preserved steam-powered tugboat, built in 1906 by the Skinner Shipbuilding Company of Baltimore, Maryland. She is formerly the oldest operating steam tugboat in the United States, but at present does not hold an operating license issued by the US Coast Guard, so is unable to leave her dock at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Key Highway, Baltimore. Her hull is not capable of operating on open water. Baltimore was built and operated as a harbor inspection tug, capable of acting as a municipal tugboat for city barges, as well as an official welcoming vessel and VIP launch, an auxiliary fireboat, and as a light icebreaker.
Tuff-E-Nuff, originally known as Thomas Cunningham Sr., was a late 19th-century tugboat which had a remarkable 112-year commercial career. She was still operating as a working tugboat as recently as May 2007. She was sunk as an artificial reef in January 2011.
RV Pacific Escort I – previously the U.S. Army LT-535 – was an Army tugboat acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1985 as an escort for submarines and as a for-hire oceanographic research ship at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
The New York Tugboat Race is a contest for working tugboats held on the Hudson River every Fall on the Sunday before Labor day. It was founded in part by Captain Jerry Roberts, who also serves as its chief announcer. Boats race one nautical mile from 79th Street to Pier 84 at 44th Street in Manhattan. The race is the occasion for a dockside festival.[1] Events currently include nose-to-nose pushing competitions, a line toss competition, and best mascot/costume contests between the crews. After the award, the spectators of the race can compete in events that include a knot tying competition, an on land line toss competition and a spinach eating competition. The spinach eating competition is in honor of the Popeye the sailor cartoon character. Spectators can also pay to get a seat on a tug boat during the events.
The Jakobson Shipyard, Inc. was a shipyard involved in manufacture of tugs, ferries, submarines, minesweepers, yachts, fireboats and other craft, based in Brooklyn, New York, from 1926 to 1938, and Oyster Bay, New York, from 1938 to 1984.
Signal Corps Laboratories (SCL) was formed on June 30, 1930, as part of the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Through the years, the SCL had a number of changes in name, but remained the operation providing research and development services for the Signal Corps.
U.S. Army ST-488 is an 86 ft (26 m) harbor tugboat, design 327-A, of the numerical series 885-490 built by J.K. Welding & Co shipyards in Brooklyn, New York in 1944. The Army's ST small tugs ranged generally from about 55 ft (17 m) to 92 ft (28 m) in length as opposed to the larger seagoing LT tugs. ST-488 was delivered May 1944 and served in the United States Army from October 1944 to 1946 in the French port of Le Havre and on the floating docks of the U.S. Mulberry harbour of Arromanches in Normandy. After a civilian career at the port of Le Havre until the late 1970s, saved from wrecking by volunteers, she became a museum ship in 1994, part of Musée maritime of Le Havre and was classified a Monument historique in 1997.
The Tug Ludington is a World War II era tugboat built in 1943 at Jacobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay, New York. The U.S. Army designated the tug LT-4. The tug's armament consisted of two 50 caliber machine guns and participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, towing ammunition barges across the English Channel. After World War II, it joined the U.S. Army Transportation Corps until 1947 when the Corps of Engineers transferred the tug to Kewaunee, Wisconsin and then renamed it the Tug Ludington. It was used in the construction and maintenance of many harbors on the Great Lakes and now rests in Harbor Park in Downtown, Kewaunee and is open to visitors for tours. As the Major Wilbur Fr. Browder, the tug is on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.
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 the United Kingdom 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, 6 June 1944, and made nine round trips to Normandy to deliver Phoenix breakwaters.
Essayons was a tugboat of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Her mission with the Corps was to support the installation of breakwaters and piers, and the dredging of harbors on Lake Superior. She was built in 1908 and served with the Army until 1949, when she was sold to the Zenith Dredge Company. Essayons continued her support of port construction and maintenance under her new owner until the mid 1960s. In 1994 she was sold again, this time to a local businessman, who hoped to convert her into a floating Bed and Breakfast. This plan never came to fruition and she sank at her moorings in Duluth Harbor in 2009.
LT-5 starboard-side view, 2009.
LT-5 bow view
United States
