Many thanks to John Skelson for sharing these photos . . . and I’ll leave you guessing for a day or so.
Notice the vessel westbound in the background. In the foreground, that’s Caddell’s with an Erie Lackawanna tug and a dilapidated ferry. The mystery vessel is what’s in the background.
The bridge needs no identification although the Bayonne shore in the background looks opener than it currently is.
The number of tugs is just fabulous.
And to return some color to the blog, here are Gary (right) and I sharing a beer after the show last night. Thanks to all who attended and to the crews of five interesting documentaries. I hope to see more of the festival Saturday and Sunday.
Again, thanks much to John Skelson for sharing the mystery photos. Now . . please weigh in.
tugster: a waterblog 
11 comments
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May 8, 2014 at 9:11 am
Rick Spilman
The once beautiful USS Normandy. So sad. Sold as scrap on 3 October 1946 to Lipsett, Inc.
May 8, 2014 at 9:24 am
tugster
damn . . . rick. you are good! so do you know where Lipsett had their scrap yard?
May 8, 2014 at 9:43 am
Lloyd Becker
Not sure where the photo was taken, but I think the tugs are Meseck.
Lloyd Becker
May 8, 2014 at 10:07 am
tugster
hi lloyd–bridge is the bayonne bridge . . . if that helps.
May 8, 2014 at 10:15 am
Rick Spilman
I think the Lispett scrap yard was in Port Newark but I am not entirely sure.
May 8, 2014 at 10:58 am
John
It’s what’s left of the Normandie.
May 8, 2014 at 11:06 am
walt
The Stem line looks too vertical for the Normandy, right!
May 8, 2014 at 11:25 am
Bobby
The SS Normandy wasn’t called the Normandy when she caught fire in 42. She was being fitted out as a troop transport and was renamed USS Lafayette.
May 8, 2014 at 5:04 pm
mageb
Normandy….and tho other’s beat me to the answer, I’m pleased my thinking was right.
May 9, 2014 at 10:40 am
sfdi1947
Lipsett was a salvor who operated in S. Kearny until the 70’s. That is a 1944-45 picture of the Normandy after her upper-works were cut away. The oblique angle of the bow is due to the, I’d guess, Sailors’ Snug Harbor POV.
May 9, 2014 at 10:48 am
sfdi1947
They also cut up the Enterprise there too, in 1960, I was 9 and remember my dad taking me to hear “Bull” Halsey speak for her preservation, in 1958 a year before he passed.