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Photo # NH 41612:  Launch of an 88-foot harbor tug (probably Harbor Tug No. 49) at New Orleans Naval Station, Louisiana.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

U. S. Navy Harbor Tug No. 49 (classified YT-49 in 1920), 1920-1925.

Harbor Tug No. 49, a 215-ton, 88-foot long wooden-hulled tug propelled by a single-cylinder steam engine, was built by the Industrial Department of the U. S. Naval Station, New Orleans, Louisiana as one of 40 sisters (Harbor Tugs Nos. 46-85) ordered by the Navy in May and June 1918 as part of its World War I emergency shipbuilding effort. Her keel was laid down in August 1918, she was launched in January 1919 and commissioned in July 1920. Harbor Tug No. 49 was classified YT-49 when the Navy implemented its standard hull classification system in July 1920. In February 1921 the Commandant, Fourteenth Naval District, requested that two additional motor tugs of the YT-86 class be sent to Pearl Harbor as soon as possible. However, none was available and in March 1921 the steam-propelled Harbor Tug No. 49 and Harbor Tug No. 50, both still at New Orleans, were substituted. They were towed to the Canal Zone, and from there to Mare Island, California, by USS Kingfisher (AM-25) in August 1921. During September and October the two tugs were towed from Mare Island to Pearl Harbor by USS Ontario (AT-13).

In March 1922, as part of a reduction in district personnel and district craft at Pearl Harbor, the office of the Chief of Naval Operations ordered Harbor Tugs Nos. 49 and 50 placed out of commission "with a view to recommissioning at some later date". Harbor Tug No. 49 was decommissioned in August 1922. In July 1924 an inspection board found her to be unfit for further Naval service, and in December the Chief of Naval Operations struck her and Harbor Tug No. 50 from the Navy list and placed them on the list of ships to be sold, with the comment that "this type of wooden harbor tug has been found to be unsuitable for Navy use." The two tugs were sold together in September 1925. When the Navy Department asked the Commandant, Fourteenth Naval District why they had been sold for a quarter of their appraised value, the Commandant explained that the two tugs were useless for Government service at Pearl Harbor because their steaming radius was very small, their steam engines were of the noncondensing type (which required frequent replenishments of fresh water), and their hand-reversing gear was dangerous to operate when the engine stuck on top or bottom dead center (a common occurrence with single-cylinder steam engines). Finally, the hulls and fresh water tanks of the tugs were of war-time wooden construction and would need costly repairs to be made serviceable.

This page features all the views we have concerning U.S. Navy Harbor Tug No. 49 (later YT-49).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 41611

U. S. Navy Harbor Tugs and Submarine Chasers


The 88-foot Harbor Tug No. 48 (on the right), Harbor Tug No. 49, and the 110-foot Submarine Chaser No. 443 being fitted out by the Industrial Department of the U. S. Naval Station, New Orleans, La., in early 1919. Harbor Tug No. 50 and Submarine Chaser No. 444 are in the building ways in the background. The center building way, from which Harbor Tug No. 49 was probably launched, is empty.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 41610

U. S. Navy 88-foot Harbor Tugs


Under construction by the Industrial Department of the U. S. Naval Station, New Orleans, La. with two 110-foot submarine chasers, probably between August 1918 and January 1919. The vessels are probably, from left to right, Submarine Chaser No. 443 with Submarine Chaser No. 444 to port, Harbor Tug No. 49, and Harbor Tug No. 50.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 41615

U. S. Navy 88-foot Harbor Tug


Under construction by the Industrial Department of the U. S. Naval Station, New Orleans, La., probably between August 1918 and January 1919. This is probably Harbor Tug No. 50, with Harbor Tug No. 49 partly visible behind the shed to the right in a more advanced stage of construction.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 41612

U. S. Navy 88-foot Harbor Tug


Being launched by the Industrial Department of the U. S. Naval Station, New Orleans, La. This is probably Harbor Tug No. 49 sliding down the center side-launch building way at this yard on 19 January 1919.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 41613

U. S. Navy 88-foot Harbor Tug


The steam engine for one of the three small tugs (Harbor Tugs Nos. 48-50) built by the Industrial Department of the U. S. Naval Station, New Orleans, La., in 1918-1920.
It is a vertical, single-cylinder, non-condensing engine with a cylinder diameter of 18 inches and stroke of 22 inches and was rated at 300 horsepower.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 85KB; 585 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104706

U. S. Navy "Wood Harbor Tug"


Outboard profile of the Harbor Tug No. 46 class (Nos 46 through 85). This plan by the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair is dated 25 April 1919 and is signed by the bureau's chief, Naval Constructor David W. Taylor, USN. Its number is C&R No. 60815.
These tugs measured 88 feet in length and 20 feet in beam, displaced 215 tons, and had a designed speed of 10 knots.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 435 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 30 April 2007