Bay-class icebreaking tug

This article is about a class of icebreaking tugboats in the United States Coast Guard. For radio station WTGB, see WTGB.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Thunder Bay (WTGB-108) clears a channel for vessels to navigate the frozen Hudson River
Class overview
Name: Bay class icebreaking tug
Builders: Tacoma Boatbuilding Company & Bay City Marine
Operators: United States Coast Guard
Preceded by: WYTM 110
In commission: 1979-present
Completed: 9
Active: 9
Retired: 0
General characteristics
Type: Icebreaker
Displacement: 662 tons
Length: 42.7 m (140 ft)
Beam: 11.4 m (37 ft 5 in)
Draught: 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Propulsion: diesel electric: 2 Fairbanks Morse diesel engines with Westinghouse DC generators, 1 Westinghouse DC motor
Speed: 14.7 knots (27.2 km/h)
Range:
  • 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km) at 14.7 knots (27.2 km/h)
  • 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
  • 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement: 17 (3 officers)
Armament: 2 × M240 machine guns

The USCG Bay-class icebreaking tug is a class of 140-foot (43 m) icebreaking tugs of the United States Coast Guard, with hull numbers WTGB 101 through to WTGB 109.

They can proceed through fresh water ice up to 20 inches (51 cm) thick, and break ice up to 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, through ramming. These vessels are equipped with a system to lubricate their progress through the ice, by bubbling air through the hull.

Service Life Extension Program

The WTGB SLEP project includes significant system upgrades and improvements to the propulsion plant; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; installation of an engine-room fire-suppression system; boat launching davit replacement; Oily Water Separator replacement; stack exhaust configuration modifications; hull air-ice lubrication system; and crew habitability improvements to meet current standards (including removal of lead paint). The first WTGB SLEP is scheduled for 12 months; however, once the Yard achieves a satisfactory production labor learning curve (anticipated after Hull #3), the Yard will complete two 140-foot WTGB SLEPs per year, with an anticipated duration of 9 months each. The first of nine cutters (MORRO BAY) entered production at the Coast Guard Yard on July 1, 2014.[1] MORRO BAY returned to her homeport of Cleveland in September 2015 [2]

President George Herbert Walker Bush tours Katmai Bay (WTGB 101) with the Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Lieutenant (Now Vice Admiral) Sandra L. Stosz in 1990.

Ships

References

External links

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