Big Lizzie II

I had a different post and an entirely different morning planned, until I looked at AIS, and saw that after almost exactly four years, Big Lizzie (HMS Ro8) was inbound.  So whose was this when 

these were coming into view?

More specifics in the link above the first photo, but check out the info here. 

“But sir, I’ve been fighting this trophy striper . . . !”

 

Notice Stockham (T-AK-3017) in the distance?

 

Why eight?

Danmark, owned by the Danish Maritime Authority,  is simply called that;  although a naval training ship, it does not go by Margrethe II.   More photos of Danmark appeared own this blog earlier this week. 

 

Note a second helicopter now?

 

Wednesday and Thursday the “Atlantic Future Forum” will occur no doubt right  there. 

Kirby has the stern as they Ro8 enters the nUpper Bay.

HMS Richmond (F239) escorts Queen Elizabeth in. 

All photos, any errors, WVD.

 

Meeting the Fleet 2022 A

Scouts?  Patrol?  Search pattern?  First and foremost, it’s to honor our war dead, and there are too many of those, even the walking wounded and dead….

Thanks to New York Media Boat, I caught the fleet from a different angle, all while respecting the safety zones.

Note the unmistakeable red of a McAllister tugboat on the starboard bow, along

with a handful more McAllisters and the other fleet vessels following.

The USACE and USCG always take part . . .

USS Bataan (LHD-5) was the lead ship, and

it docked in the Hudson River Passenger Terminal.

More WVD fleet week 2022 photos tomorrow.  Lots more photos of the LHD can be seen here.  A guide to Fleet Week activities can be found here.

Previous tugster fleet week posts can be seen here.

 

Government Boats 56

I believe this is the first time I post a photo of 1961 FDNY Alfred E. Smith.  She was sold to private owners in 2016. 

Nearer the mainland on Pier 25, Lilac has held this berth since 2011.

USACE Gelberman has been a regular here, as has 

Dobrin.

USACE Driftmaster has worked collecting debris since 1949!  I wonder how plans to replace her are coming along. 

I could not identify this heavily-laden sludge  . . . I mean GUP . . . carrier. 

NYPD’s Cardillo and 

Hansen are two boats of the Harbor Unit, itself a part of NYPD since 1858.  Hansen has been in service since 1994. 

Soderman is the current occupant at Bayonne Drydock & Repair.

Oops!  It’s Alice and Ollis.  Alice Austen usually runs in the wee hours, and Ollis arrived in the boro back in August and will enter service as soon as training is complete. 

x

All photos, WVD.

 

Government Boats 55

Off New London USCGC Coho and a 45′ response boat take part in training off Race Rock Light and then later off

Little Gull Island Light, with the 87′ towing the 45′ boats.

A regular in the sixth boro is USCGC Beluga.

The 29′ patrol boats monitor lots of activities in the harbor;  here they board a small fishing boat.

Of the many USCG aids-to-navigation (AToN) boats, this is 49′ BUSL.

Small USACE survey boats seem constantly at work in the harbor.

NYC DEP has a monitoring boat, Sandpiper.  Another one of their boats is called Osprey.

Another DEP vessel, this one is called Oyster Catcher.

NYPD has its own navy;  here is one of their bigger boats, the 55′ Det. Luis Lopez.

Here’s another NYPD patrol boat, drawled dwarfed by a ULCV bow wave.  [I like that new word “drawled,” sort of like swamped but not quite maybe.]

One of the four carriers (yes, they carry, and for which the demand never stops) of the DEP fleet is Rockaway.

Any guesses on this speedy black vessel?

It’s a marine unit of the same folks you might be talking to if you’re speedy on roads inland.

All photos, recently, WVD.

 

 

 

Government Boats 54

Taxes pay for all these vessels, for the common good.

NYPD has a fleet.  Anyone know how many  boats make up the NYPD “floating plant”?

NYC has two ferry fleets, the orange one and this newer one, NYCF.  Anyone know when the first new-generation Staten Island ferry will arrive in the sixth boro?  Does NYCF really have 30 boats or is it 20?  I’ve read both numbers.  

Passing a westbound Cape Canaveral ,

this NY State Police launch passes one of another NYC fleet, a DEP tanker.

There’s also a federal fleet in the area.  This 49′ BUSL is about to disappear on the far side of a ULCV . . .

and then over the horizon.

The USCG has even smaller AToN tenders,

like this one on the inland side of NY.

Recently calling in Stapleton, it’s Sycamore (WLB-209), and off her port side is 47′ MLB Sandy Hook. 

 

All photos, WVD.

 

Random ULCVs 2

Here was the first in the series.  It does seem a greater percentage of container ships calling in the the sixth boro are  ULCVs.  Hyundai Hope arrived here on Saturday.

and from here, where she departed midmorning today,  she goes into the port of Wilmington.  She must be a sight to see there.  HMM, Hyundai Merchant Marine, dates back to 2010.  Hyundai Hope was built in 2014 and carries 13154 teu.

OOCL Korea, built 2014 and capacity of 13300 teu, came in recently on a windy day . . . .  The gargantuan size is illustrated by the the two McAllister tugs that seem almost to disappear off her stern.

OOCL Korea  is appearing on this blog for the first time.

Two of them meet in Ambrose Channel, along with an incoming Torm tanker as well.

Season Harrier, first of a series of newbuilds, called here recently.

.

Gunhilde Maersk, at 7000 teu and built in 2008, left here 10 days ago and is already in the Red Sea.

OOCL Chongqing was built in 2013 and carries just over 13k teu.

 

All photos, WVD, who misses more than half of the ULCVs that call . . . .

Ever wonder the per-mile cost of moving a container via rail car versus via ship?  Answers here.

Small Craft 24 a

I’m at a quo vadis point myself.  I appreciate the feedback you’ve given on the virtual tour. I could do more, e.g., guide to the Welland Canal, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and four of the five Great Lakes.  As to the Erie Canal, which was/were your favorite leg?  What info specifically did you find most interesting or startling?  As for myself, learning about the loyalists  . . . that’s topic I could dig into more, not on the blog but in my personal reading.  Three Rivers Inn nightclub is one of my favorite details.

Let’s have a look at small boats and their seasons. Below, that might be Emily Miller, black and white alongside the monolithic hull of USNS Watkins.  She’s acrew boat that operates all year ’round.

Savitsky is one sweet fish boat.  Fishing is a year round activity in the boro.

Emergency vessels are here year rund. NYPD has a number of these fast 70′ tactical response boats.  One I caught soon after arrival in the sixth boro exceeding 40 knots can be seen here.

Side by side, here’s a serious USCG 45′ nearer and a NJ State Police RIB farther.

And the 29′ Defiant looks like it’s made for

maneuver-

ability!

Marine 1 FDNY has the big boats, medium,  and small boats, although I’m not sure the length and other specs of this one.

And finally, the North Hudson Firestorm 36 is a rare sight on the KVK.  I first saw her here on her delivery from Canada.

All these photos I took in March or earlier.  As we move farther into spring, covid-19 notwithstanding, different types of small boats will be moving around the sixth boro.

 

Welcome Comfort 2

I could also call this “other peoples photos” but here is yesterday’s arrival of the hospital ship as seen from three friends’ perspectives.

Phil Little took this, and referred to it as his Normandy landing shot, an appropriate name given that this asset, arriving with a large support group, marks a surge, a counteroffensive against the invisible foe.  Note that the top of WTC1 is obscured, as is most of the VZ Bridge, center right.

To reiterate, Comfort‘s 1000 beds and 12 operating rooms will take overflow from other hospitals, overflow of NON-covid-19 patients.  Click here for much more info on the ship, medical facilities and operating life.  Click here for video of the hospital ship arriving.

The flotilla is almost to her berth, here passing Hudson Yards.

Renee Lutz Stanley took this one from a pier south of Intrepid while trying very hard to practice social distancing.

Phil calls this the “turn-in.”

This last two come from David Silver, taken looking south.

Cruise ships and hospital ship are roughly the same color, but that color gives a profoundly different impression in each.  Comfort with its relatively few “port holes” and glass is a place of intensive inward examination, a place apart, one hopes, for healing.

Many thanks to Phil, Renee, and David for use of these photos.  Please do continue social distancing and hand-washing.

Welcome Comfort 1

At 0900 and a few minutes, USNS Comfort arrived at the Narrows.  Ava M was one of six McAllister units meeting her there to assist.

USACE, NYPD, and other agencies saw her in as well.

, 

She passed the USCG station and

 

and the old hospital complex.

Another USNS vessel in the port was Watkins.

From this point off Bayonne, we’ll pick up the story tomorrow.

All photos, WVD.

Government Boats 53

Foggy day, moody port.  Without the icon off to the left, you might think it’s just an uninhabited island with a law enforcement boat approaching in our wake, but

once you see the logo on the cowl . . . along with the statue above . . .

suddenly the land edges lapped by the waters must be teeming with life. The sixth boro is the least inhabited one.

All photos by WVD, who’s amazed by the mild February weather.