April 1983 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News

TUGS OF WAR

When the mammoth World War II battleship Iowa left drydocking facilities at Avondale Shipyard enroute to its second phase of facelifting at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss, it was towed downriver on the Mississippi by Gulf Fleet Marine's Gulf Ace II, a 5,600 hp class tug, while another Gulf Fleet Marine vessel, the Gulf Commander, a 9,000 hp class tug, towed upriver on the Iowa's sternside, to combat the Mississippi's swift current. The Iowa remained steady and on course. When the battleship reached the mouth of the Mississippi, the Gulf Commander shifted to the bow and became the sole vessel to tow it on its trip to Pascagoula. The 58,000 ton Iowa is 887 feet long and displaces enough water to flood 46 acres of land one foot deep. Commissioned in 1943, it was decommissioned in 1958 and preserved at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Detachment. Gulf Fleet Marine, a subsidiary of Houston Natural Gas Corporation (HNG), is headquartered in New Orleans and provides a wide range of marine transportation services for the offshore petroleum and construction industries.

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First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.