2007 05 24.Downbound Welland Canal; underway toward lock 7 in Thorold; pic taken in Allanburg. Description from US Coast guard web site: Tacoma Boatbuilding Company, Tacoma, Washington, built CGC MOBILE BAY and five of her sister ships. The company laid the cutter's keel in a ceremony 13 February 1978 and launched the ship ten month's later on 11 November 1978. CGC MOBILE BAY was commissioned on 02 September 1979 as the third of the nine 140 foot cutters in the Coast Guard's "Bay" class of icebreaking tugs. In May of 1992 , Aids to Navigation (ATON) barge. CGB12002 was accepted and CGC MOBILE BAY transformed from solely an icebreaking tug to a multi-mission tug and barge.
CGC MOBILE BAY is named after the bay on the Southwest coast of Alabama. Mobile Bay, Alabama was the scene of a Civil War naval battle on 5 August 1864 in which the Union commander Admiral David Farragut ran a blockade of mines (then called torpedoes). His actions dispersed the Confederate fleet and forced the bay's defending forts to surrender. It was during this naval engagement the now famous battle cry, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" was born.LENGTH 140 FT/BEAM 37.5 FT/DRAFT 12.5 FT/DISPLACEMENT 690 TONS/FREEBOARD 6 FT/HORSEPOWER 2500 HP/SPEED: MAX 14.8 KTS CRUISING 12.0 KTS.