Most of the high end tugs don't have a "wrong way". They have pivoting propulsion units both rear and front. They're insanely cool. I was (years ago) the third-party manager for Crowley Maritime's global data network and got to see (in the Bay Area) some of the coolest high-tech tugs. They started from a single rowboat back in the 1800's to a seriously hardcore service firm. Neat stuff. -jim
Those tugs are being dragged backwards by the sub. I am guessing that is how a large nuke sub is manouvered in tight quarters. If you look closely you can see the the only way the tugs are even attached to the sub are by one springline each cleated admidships and to the sub near the conning tower. Makes sense because they can put one tug in gear to turn the sub that direction or both to stop it (brakes). Rudder authority at low speed is shit on a giant sub I am certain.
I love sitting at the bars on the deck in Porstmouth, NH watching the Moran boys do their thing. Pretty awesome how that can maneuver those boats. That and the process in getting the ropes back the right way.
subs I have a friend that used to work at electric boat in CT . they had him wiring up the firing switches on the missiles . I still lay away at night and worry about that sometimes.
Was on sub in the 90's. The tugs we used had a giant 'outboard' motor, (think it was a ducted thruster) hanging out the bottom that could rotate 360 degrees as the primary propulsion . They were harbor tugs and not really open water tugs. They were pretty much handled by one man in the wheel house with 2 line handlers. The wheel house when they were working was facing aft so they could see the lines. The operator had 2 joysticks and some pedals and could control the whole tug. The tugs could drive sideways if they needed. The subs have the main propulsion 'screw', and one 'outboard' thruster near the stern. The bow doesn't maneuver well on the surface, and the boat in that pic is a missle boat so it was a lot longer than my fast attack. When morning, The tugs tied up beside the sail, with a line forward and aft with a deep water 'fender' that hit the hull at the center line. We used them primarily for low speed maneuverability and to cut our turn radius. They could thrust the bow around really well. We almost never used 2 tugs unless we were dead stick, we had one tied up like the picture, and had a second standing by if needed. Never been into kings bay, so don't know what the charts look like.
C-Tactors. very cool tugs http://www.tugboatinformation.com/company.cfm?id=70 I've had the good luck to do some work from one. As others have mentioned, 360 degree main drive. Damn if google earth hasn't come a long way...
Yep Tractor Tugs. I worked for McAllister back in High school and college as a summer job. Tractor tugs were just coming on strong in Europe and maybe there were a handful in NY back then. Here's a convential tug next to a tractor. Note the wheelhouse differences. The Nancy on the left has two 1900HP 16 cylinder engines and twin 9 foot four blade props in Qort nozzles if I remember correctly. Based on the size of the stacks on the drew I'd say she has something between 6-8k HP. The Nancy and her sister the Brent were the top of the fleet when I worked there. http://kelvindavies.co.uk/kelvin/data/media/12/nancy__andrew_McAllister.jpg
Not enough detail in the photo to know what's happening. Though tugs can maneuver quite well in forward and aft direction they obviously have a more efficient direction based on hull shape and those two tugs are going in "reverse". They may be hooked up like that and just pulled that boat out of the refit facility and are going to put it back into a pier position and it was just easier to maneuver that way. Any number of things could be happening based on that photo. We typically only needed one tug to position us. I'm just guessing that the sub pictured is on tug power only since they have two tugs attached. I could be wrong since that appears to be a Trident and two tugs may be standard for them. I've never pulled into Kings Bay on the boomer I was on. The old tugs that had bidirectional diesels were cool. Similare to the old PT boats. The diesels ran one direction until you were ready to reverse then they ran the other direction. The old Fairbanks-Morris diesels could do that if "plumbed" for it.
Craziness. I'm almost certain my dad worked at Electric boat 40+ years ago. He's hates working on wiring. I think we all hope it wasn't him. He's from Niantic.
I wired the firing panels for the Seasparrow missile when I was at Raytheon. If I told ya any more I'd hafta kill ya... No idea if Seasparrow is even still deployed. Perhaps the tugs are that way to allow best maneuvering capability... tugs will be backing the sub in? Do these tugs tug just as well backing as forward?
