Great lake boats, a good video

[RobS]

Looks like the Becker Rudder is used with a non-pivoting prop:

Becker Flap Rudder - Becker Marine Systems

 

[ArlyA]

I suspect the ALP was pulling, not pushing. In fact, all the video's I've seen of it, it's never pushing, always pulling, I do not believe it even has bumpers on the bow. It's prime duty is heavy anchor recovery and moving off shore oil rigs. Why the afterdeck is flat and just above the waterline and has rollers on the back to bring in anchors. They have a nice website you can visit that list the entire fleet, the power plants, winch capacities and bollard pull. One picture shows it pulling a supertanker at sea and it's cooking pretty good too.

They don't look like Lakes tugs at all. and they use rotating propeller pods that rotate 360 degrees so they never reverse the engines, just reverse the direction the prop faces. They can even motor sideways. If I remember correctly it has a compliment of 24 crewmen. The name of the pods escapes me right now.

I was not referring to ALP tugs and have never mentioned them here. What you call "rotating propeller pods" are actually called Azipods. The Mackinaw utilizes them.

 

[ArlyA]

This video taken Dec 9, 2020 when the Algoma Intrepid ran aground in the Welland Canal at Port Colborne in stiff winds. Seems to me lots of boats get ran around for various reasons. It apparently struck another vessel prior to running aground. It almost hit the same vessel again while being pulled free. You cansee both the stern and bow thrusts at work.

 

[ArlyA]

Having a windy day here on the BIG lake and all the boats came off of the open water or dropped anchor in some safe harbor. Can been seen here.

 

[ArlyA]

Goofy things to be seen on boats, while passing through the Soo locks. Must be a complete construction crew, including trucks and trailers. These locks are the busiest in the world.

 

[MossRoad]

Claude A. Desgagnés - Duluth Shipping News

Claude A. Desgagnés was built in 2011, is 460 feet long and flies the Canadian flag Previous names: Elsborg: 2011-2012 Claude A. Desgagnés: 2012- Owned by Transport Desgagnes in Quebec, the Claude A. Desgagnés spends the summer months under the Canadian flag providing cargo services to the new...

duluthshippingnews.com

 

[ArlyA]

How do you start a ships propulsion engine?

 

[cqaigy2]

Interesting.

 

[ArlyA]

15 boats on the big lake this morning. Busy out there!

MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic

 

[ArlyA]

Here is a great video about the history and construction of the Soo locks. These locks were the blue print for the Panama project.

From wikie

The Soo Locks (sometimes spelled Sault Locks but pronounced "soo") are a set of parallel locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. They are located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, between the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario. They bypass the rapids of the river, where the water falls 21 feet (6.4 m). The locks pass an average of 10,000 ships per year,[4] despite being closed during the winter from January through March, when ice shuts down shipping on the Great Lakes. The winter closure period is used to inspect and maintain the locks.

The locks share a name (usually shortened and anglicized as Soo) with the two cities named Sault Ste. Marie, in Ontario and in Michigan, located on either side of the St. Marys River. The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge between the United States and Canada permits vehicular traffic to pass over the locks. A railroad bridge crosses the St. Marys River just upstream of the highway bridge.

The first locks were opened in 1855. Along with the Erie Canal, constructed in 1824 in central New York State, they were amongst the great infrastructure engineering projects of the antebellum United States. The Soo Locks were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.[5]