A couple of years ago I crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool to Baltimore via Halifax NS and Newark NJ. The ship was the Atlantic Sea an ACL con-ro vessel. It was a fascinating trip and due to storms we went northabout Ireland instead of the southern route. I used to wander round the ship at night with a seaman doing safety checks on the cargo which on that trip was several hundred cars mainly Land Rovers and lots of plant mostly excavators. (Jonathan the deck hand said he hated LR cargo as they leaked oil everywhere!) Funniest part of the trip was a very cocky Scots sea cadet trying to steer the ship under instruction we did more zig zags than a Russian convoy!
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Satanfriendly do the ACL ships use any power to get out into the river or do the tugs do it all?
Fascinating, must be hairy if there's a strong wind blowing!
the pilots earn their money boarding at sea sometimes at night.
This is a great thread! Thanks for sharing guys.
I was fortunate enough to get a visit to the USS New York in 2019. It's a very emotive ship and made with steel from the World Trade Center. There's multiple NY references around the ship. This is the view from the bridge. You can see the team capstans:
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They also have the jacket displayed on the bridge that was worn by FDNY firefighter Bill Butler, from Ladder Company 6, who survived the collapse of the North Tower on 9/11 along with 12 other firefighters:
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Interesting fact - USS New York has the largest collection of silverware in the US Navy:
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...Interestingly I found out that the papers for the first wooden 'Alabama' were signed in a pub local to where I live.