U.S. Army LT 2080
Fitted out for atmospheric diffusion testing.
Note the extended deckhouse this was the laboratory
Copyright © 1999 Superior Digital Processing
Included in the gallery now is a picture of the U.S. Army LT- 2080 one of the six LT class tugs. That participated in Project SHAD. Essentially a test for atmospheric diffusion of chemical and biological weapons. I have been all over this boat the engine room has 3 4-71 40kw auxiliaries and a huge ancient air conditioning compressor. This had something to do with making the inside of the boat a pressurized airtight citadel and keeping a positive pressure inside. The decontamination gear is still intact in this photo. This tug was recently purchased at auction by West Coast Marine of San Diego CA. The US. Army tugs LT-2080, LT-2081, LT-2086, LT-2087 and the LT-2088 participated in Project Deseret, which involved Atmospheric diffusion testing. The marine unit was called project shad, short for ship habitation and decontamination. Early experiments(starting in the early '60s) involved two Liberty ships the Granville S. Hall and the George Eastman. Also used were Submarines, Barges, aircraft and assorted small vessels. The Army tugs were Converted to research vessels in 1964 by the Fulton shipyard in Antioch Ca. Then they were operated by Navy crews and taken to Hawai in 1964 for Operation Flower Drum phase one. This test spread 800 pounds of the nerve agent GB laced with radioactive particles for tracing. Other possible tests including Autumn Gold, Copperhead, 68-50, 69-31, Eager Belle, Flower Drum, Fearless Johnny, Half Note, Purple, Red Beva, Scarlet Sage, Shady Grove and Deseret. used: tularamia, anthrax, parrot fever, Q fever, botulism and rocky moutain spotted fever The tugs would crisscross the clouds of gas in all weather Stability was a problem as the boats would roll 60 degrees. Reportedly the naval architect Rosenblatt initial calcs for the tugs were relying on the main engines weighing in at 44 thousand pounds however when Cooper delivered the engines the weighed 64 thousand pounds this would account for some of the problems. The army LT's were returned to layup at Reo Vista on March 22 1971.
US Army Photograph
5 project Shad LT tugs Delivered by Navy crews to the Sharpe Army Depot
Rio Vista Ca. March 22 1970
A project shad e-mail
I was really surprised to find this vessel on the internet. I had the miserable pleasure of being on the Navy crew from about April '68 till the end in '71. I never knew until now if the project was still classified. Therefore, I will not talk about anything the tug was used for.
However, I can talk about the sea keeping qualities of this vessel. Barf is about correct. I don't know of anyone that didn't get sick at least once. (This includes some 20yr old salt types that had never been sick before.) I don't know of may people spitting up blood though. One fellow did put his false teeth over the side by accident.
The largest roll that I ever heard of was 45 degrees. They had a speed range of around 5 to 13 knots. This made it fun trying to keep up with a Liberty ship that could do a max of 4 knots. (By the way this was after the USS Liberty was shot up off Israel. Supposedly no more were in the Navy. Ha!) All of the vessels in this group had an engine overhaul just before they were put to bed in '71. If they haven't been used much since they should be in good shape.
To throw them into reverse you had to stop the engine and re-start it backwards. It was a common problem for the engine to stop top dead center. In this case the air start system would not work. The engine man had to manually jack the engine to get it running again. This caused some rather humors events. On one occasion we sank a painters float. The painting crew got of just in time!
One project that I can talk about; While on a trip from the West coast to Pearl, we did a Plankton study. We did Morning and Evening sampling all the way from port to port. I have seen results of this test printed in various Oceanographic books!
Some LT's In Stockton 1984
