Great Lakes Shipyard: (
Satellite)
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Marine Historical Society of Detroit posted
Great Lakes Towing Company's wrecking tug Favorite (2) seen removing rail cars from the capsized car ferry Ann Arbor No. 4 in June of 1909 at Manistique, MI. It appears that there is already another ore car on the forward deck of the tug, sitting upside down. Unknown photographer. Father Dowling collection/MHSD. The ferry capsized and sank at its slip in Manistique on May 29, 1909 after a switching error placed 8 fully loaded cars of iron ore on the port wing (outside) track with no cars on the starboard wing track. Contributing to the sinking were open deadlights on the ferry. |
Bill Kloss
posted three photos with the comment: "Thanks to my friends at the Great Lakes Towing and Shipyard for the opportunity to visit their facility in Cleveland. This is the
Minnesota, the latest tug under construction. It's number 8 in a series of 10 new tugs to be built. 6/7/2023"
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Bill Kloss
posted three photos with the comment: "More photos from my visit to the Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland. 6/7/2023"
Brian R. Wroblewski: How many of the old style G tugs have a Kort Nozzle?
Bill Kloss: Brian R. Wroblewski 2 that I know of. Nebraska being the other.
Brian R. Wroblewski: Bill Kloss ok thanks. Must have been some sort of trial or something. Maybe it doesn't make too much difference.
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The roads by the waterworks and shipyard are closed to the public, so I couldn't get any street views of this area.
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TheGreatLakesGroup_shipyard
"Great Lakes Shipyard is a full-service shipyard for new vessel and barge construction, fabrication, maintenance, and repairs in a state-of-the-art facility that includes a 770-ton mobile Travelift. The newly constructed shipyard facility is located in the Old River Channel on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio with a water front of approximately 2,000 lineal feet. An additional 3,800 lineal feet of water front is available on the Cuyahoga River proximate to the Shipyard." |
I've seen many photos that had a "G" tugboat in them. Now I know why. The "G" stands for Great Lakes Towing and they have facilities all around the lakes.
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TheGreatLakesGroup_towing
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TheGreatLakesGroup_emergency
"The Great Lakes Towing Company provide emergency assistance to vessels that are wrecked, disabled, or in distress on the U.S. Great Lakes. Emergency assistance is also provided to vessels in Canadian waters under a Treaty between the United States and Canada. No claim for salvage under the maritime laws is made by the Towing Company for emergency services provided under the Company’s Lakes-Wide Contract." |
The Great Lakes Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard
posted three photos with the comment: "Tug MINNESOTA is officially out of the fabrication shop and into the water. There's still work that needs to be done, but she's one step closer to her first tow"
Jeff McMeekin: Do these new tugs have crew berths on them?
Aaron Burnett: Jeff McMeekin, 1 berth for 2 men typically.
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Sjaak Van Roemburg commented on the above post
Nice Dutch Damen design. |
Lance Aerial Media
posted 20 photos with the comment:
The 140 ft 663 Ton
US Coast Guard Ice Breaker, the Morro Bay is lifted out of the water to get some work done at the Great Lakes shipyard in Cleveland. The lift is the largest one on the Great Lakes, and can pick up nearly 2 Million pounds.
You can see the huge line of trucks waiting for their salt at the
Cargill salt mine across the river as well.
Ian Fenberg: The TravelLift that this one replaced is now working at a large shipyard up in Connecticut.
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Bill Kloss
posted seven photos with the comment:
Good morning. I was invited with 2 other photographers to the Great Lakes Towing Company at their Cleveland headquarters to document the arrival of the oldest operating tug on the Great Lakes and the world! The America was built in 1897 by the Union Dry Dock Company of Buffalo, New York. In 1899 she was acquired by the newly formed Great Lakes Towing Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and was an original member of their fleet. She was eventually retired by the Towing Company, but got a new lease on life in 1941, when she was rebuilt with a new pilothouse and re-entered service.
Later that same year,
America capsized on the Detroit River, and six lives were lost. The tug was raised and continued service. In 1950 she was converted from steam to diesel power. In 1982
America was renamed
Midway. The following year, her name was changed again, this time to
Wisconsin. The
Wisconsin continued to operate under that name until 2021, when she was renamed
Georgia. In 1923 [2023] she returned to her original name of
America and is stationed at the
Port of Monroe, MI today where she continues in active service under the command of Captain
Paul LaMarre.
Photo date of 9.9.2025
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Kirk Brust commented on Bill's post
Here she is in her original configuration. |
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Art Pietscher commented on Bill's post, cropped
We've been watching the Wisconsin-Georgia-America since it was first assigned to Monroe. We're out to the port every day or two checking on the happenings and looking for wildlife. Terrific area for watching Eagles too. Here's a photo I took on October 5th, 2022 (my sister's birthday) of the then Georgia (but still the oldest active ship on the Great Lakes) stern to stern with the then brand new Mark Barker! This is here in Monroe and they were loading synthetic gypsum I believe. It was an experiment and the Barker was there for 2-3 days and I don't think it ever came back for another load! The heavy lift crane was set up to transfer one of the generator parts for repair at our local nuclear plant (Fermi)! |
Bill took some photos of other tugs while he was in the shipyard. It looks like most of the tugs were in Winter storage.
Bill Koss
posted three photos with the comment: "Tugs at the Great Lakes Towing and Shipyard in Cleveland, OH. 12.9.2025"
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