April 1999

Its time for another update. We took the TAIRONA over to Richmond in January to get fuel. the boat ran smoothly the main engine hung up on top dead center briefly while maneuvering out of the old Kaiser dry dock in Richmond. We saw the Miki tug JUSTINE undergoing some renovation. The new owners have removed a big refrigerator box from the stern of the boat, Its starting to look like a real tugboat again.

On our latest project my dad is putting the finishing touches on a new solid mahogany desk/chart table, for the pilot house. We also installed some more cabinets in the galley. I got a new computer in Febuary along with a transparency scanner. I have been scanning and cataloging  my friend Glenn's collection of tugboat slides onto CD rom we may make some of this collection available for sale later. There are many great shots from about 1970 to present. All with a west coast focus. featuring such great tugs like Fred Devine's SALVAGE CHIEF.

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 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. Half of the crew would be throwing up blood. 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.