Other People’s Fotos 22

Here was 18 in this series, which offers similar equipment.  Something supermax somewhere?

All these fotos come compliments of Xtian Herrou, who previously passed along fotos for this post and others.  He took this foto in Brest, although the tug is by now through Port Said for parts south and east… .

These waters require that Sea Foxtrot and her tow take on specialized gear.

Once they get in the zone, Sea Foxtrot and

Norma 1 will fully deploy gear and look like this,

UAE tug Simyar, currently working in the Indian Ocean.

Merci beaucoup, Xtian  . . .

Here’s a post I did six and a half years ago (scroll on through) alluding to pirates that once annoyed ships in the sixth boro . . ..

Government Ships 6

Here’s a mouthful:  behold the quite newly commissioned “French FREMM multi-mission frigate, Aquitaine.”

The blue shed along her starboard side gives away the location . . .  that’s Red Hook .  .  . south end of  Brooklyn Bridge park.

Here’s the sum of the parts, at sunrise this morning.  For a CGI walk through, click here.

Here’s a frontal view of the stealth frigate.  For more info, click here.    DCNS was the builder.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Here’s a stealthy French warship that visited three years ago . . . and here are some fotos that include mine of the  previously most recent French naval contingent  in the sixth boro.

 

Really Random Tugs 11

This foto, and some others here,  comes thanks to Xtian, who had a question about a model he’s building a few weeks ago.  I hope someone can help.   This drydock foto shows Abeille Liberté , which assisted in the salvage of MSC Napoli five years back.  I’m guessing this is irrelevant, but “abeille” is the French word for “bee,” as in … the critter that makes honey and stings.  This hull is nothing if not sweet yet efficient.  As of this writing, Abeille Liberté  is at the dock in Cherbourg.

I’m always looking for outatowners or “never-before-seen”s in the sixth boro.  C. Angelo 

fits that description.    Here’s what Birk and Harold  had to say about her.  I got this foto Sunday, and the turbine WAS spinning.

Back to Xtian fotos,  Marseillais 6 is Voith propulsion tug based in greater Marseille.

Abeille Flandre is based east of Marseille in Toulon.

Here’s another of the same size and mission:  Abeille Languedoc. As of this writing Abeille Languedoc is docked in Boulogne-sur-Mer, just west of the Calais/Dover crossing point in the Channel.

I believe that since this foto was taken, Tenax has lost these hues of blue–can I call one of them “cerulean”–for orange and white.  Here’s another blue shot, with sibling vessels.

Finally, from Xtian, Baltic Warrior–built in Poland West Germany* in 1964– towing a disabled Eleousa Trikoukiotisa to Malta, where she remains.  As of this writing, Baltic Warrior is docked in Ramsgate.  * means see Xtian’s comment.  Baltic Warrior was originally Bugsier 26;  here’s Bugsier (Hamburg)’s current fleet.

Back to my  fotos, this is a Kirbified Viking.

Amy C McAllister and McAllister Responder race out the toward the Narrows and beyond, as

does Buchanan 12.  Given that Buchanan 12 often pushes a half dozen or more stone scows, I’d could easily squint and tell myself she’s pushing Swinburne Island closer to New Jersey.

All fotos by either Herrou Xtian or Will Van Dorp.

Abeille International is a division of Boubon International. Here’s their fleet.

Other People’s Fotos 18

First . . . a foto from Cape Town thanks to Colin.  Any idea what purpose the wire coils around the bulwarks of Teliri serve?  Answer at end of post.

Next, from French mariner Herrou Xtian, a LeHavre-based rotor tug RT Claire, now working in Bremerhaven.  For a sense of what she looks like below the waterline, click here.

Also from Xtian, it’s a huge salvage tug Abeille Bourbon.  Xtian’s has a model-building question later in this post.  And I hope to have fotos of a huge tug myself in the next few days.

And from Dave Chappell, Mobro’s Rio Bravo (ex-Gus Candies, 1973)  towing a scow through Jacksonville, FL.

Also from Dave, two old tugs (anyone identify??) travel under the Ben Franklin swing bridge near Charleston, SC.

Teliri has been laying cable in pirate/gangster? infested waters, so it could be construed the coils of barbed wire intends to discourage unwelcomed visits.

And here’s Xtian’s question, stemming from his work on Crowley’s former vessel Centurion.  On his model, the lighter strips represent the keel coolers.  How far do the ones marked A and B extend, and what exactly do they look like.

Here are fotos I took of Centurion high and dry on Mighty Servant 1, about to leave NYC’s sixth boro for Nigeria.  However, the portion Xtian wants to see is obscured in all my fotos.  Anyone help?

Final shot, also from Colin . ..  who’s following the progress of Alwyn Vintcent inland from Cape town on a 90-wheel rig operated by ALE.  Here’s a previous ship-haul job by ALE.

I won’t post tomorrow or friday most likely . .  because I’ll be gallivanting “on assignment.”

Thanks much Colin, Xtian, and Dave.

x

Cast Closeups 3

Here’s the engine order telegraph and a bit of uniform.  Guess the vessel?  Doubleclick enlarges fotos.

Here’s more signage.  Identification later in the post.

And a closeup of the topsail furling system of Etoile, one of the French schooners.

More brass and brightwork on Etoile.

And the guard of the passerelle.

Not far away, crew on this vessel looked less inviting.  Guess the nationality?

Canadian.  She’s guarding HMCS Iroquois, built in the same Quebec town as Mathilda!

Here was Iroquois last Wednesday converging with other vessels in the sixth boro, and

here she is nose to nose with USCGC (WLB 202) Willow, alternatively captured by bowsprite.

From the bridge deck of Argus, looking over the stern and toward the west . . . Governors Island and New Jersey beyond.   Along the horizon near the south tip of Governors Island . . . those are the cranes of Bayonne and even fainter beyond that Port Elizabeth.

Here’s the view from the forward positioned bridge.  Back in 2007 I caught these fotos of Oslo Express, the only bridge-forward container vessel I can recall seeing in the sixth boro.

Here’s a bit more info on Argus.  My tour guide and globalsecurity.org describe Argus as the only vessel in the world to have a CT scanner.    As it turns out, she also has a cat.  This is Simon, and yes . . . Simon went off duty decades ago, but his healing presence in the hospital lives on.  More sobering, Argus has patient monitors that allow patients to have a chance to survive IED-caused triple amputations.

Nearing dusk, yesterday afternoon . . . the Brooklyn vessels as seen from the water:  stern of Seneca, Shirane, the French Belle Poule and Etoile, and Cuauhtemoc.

Which brings me back to the Mexican ship.  Some of the cadets I spoke with finally explained this flag . . . it’s the captain’s personal flag . . . personal pirate flag, actually is what the cadet said.

Aboard were over 250 crew, who started their morning yesterday polishing brass before they let any visitors up the pasillo.

And the vessel was immaculate.

Below the stack here, I’m told, is a 1250 hp Cat.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who needs to get to another job now.

John Dark and Stealthy Sidekick

No matter how the two names get mangled by anglophone mouths on VHF, how they’re written is Jeanne d’Arc (like the girl general).  She’s a R97, French cruiser nearing retirement at 50.  To put that into perspective, when she was launched, Charles DeGaulle was President of France.  Although scheduled to retire this year, Jeanne d’Arc is no slouch;  almost exactly two years ago, she was involved in the recapture of the three-masted, nearly 300′ loa yacht Le Ponant from Somali pirates.

To reflect pronunciation, call her John Dark . . . .  Jane Dark even, if you want to be technical.    Along with her is Courbet, stealth frigate F712.  I thought she was named for the painter, but –instead–her namesake is a French admiral of sea/river battles referred to as the Sino-French War, fighting along the coast in places like Gulf of Tonkin and the eastern China coast off places like Ningbo and  the Pescadores Islands.

Like “John Dark,”   “Coor Bay” has also tangled with Somali pirates.  In September 2008, F712 recaptured French yacht Carré d’As IV from pirates as they headed with it and two hostages into Eyl, which was featured on tugster around that time.  The deck gun here is a 100mm GIAT;  compare with the 76mm Otobreda depicted in the blog with the best maritime drawings in the world, IMHO.

John Dark and  Coor Bay are here in peace;  let’s celebrate them.. If you see a French sailor around town today, wearing a uniform like

like these, smile . . . or say something like “sa leeeeooo” or “bein’ ve new”  as they gallivant  bit around our fair city on R n R.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  They were taken in somehow appropriate twilight.

Unrelated but also involving a sidekick: Jodie Nelson and escort.

Also unrelated though similar, see the blog of USCGC Escanaba here.