2023 Winter Fleet at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

The video shows views of the shipyard and ten ships coming in for a seasonal winter layup.
Ships get moved around during the winter as they work on them and switch them in and out of the dry dock, which involves breaking the ice.
As of today, 02-05-2023 Walter J. McCarthy is in the dry dock, then next, North to South is the Indiana Harbor, Cason J. Callaway is in for a long-term layup, Push Tug Clyde S. VanEnkevort with Barge Erie Trader, John G Munson, LNG Barges, Joseph L. Block, Wilfred Sykes, Casino Boat Majestic Star preparing for a tow North, Mesabi Miner, Edwin H. Gott, Joyce L. VanEnkevort wit Barge Great Lakes Trader and the Mark W. Barker.

[@adriannegrillo8394]

Love the sight of the "girls" getting their well deserved winter rest. Crew and tugs also! Enjoy family time and can't wait to see you all later!

[@ron827]

VERY well done and I love the music. That was a lot of flight time and editing to give us the tour. THANKS!

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you very much!

[@johnmacqueen1777]

Just visited Sturgeon Bay yesterday. Got quite a few shots with the Canon (some with the long lens). Your video planted the seed. Lots of big boats and tugs. Worth the trip from Minnesota!

[@gregmctevia5087]

Big boats in hibernation. What a beautiful piece.

[@GreatLakesStateProductions6708]

It’s neat to see all the boats together in sturgeon bay. Can’t wait for them to all be back at it out in the lakes though…..

[@tmayer0009]

Thanks for the wonderful video, awesome! I’m have ship withdrawals!!!

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you!

[@TOTALCAMARO]

Beautiful video of all the ladies taking their winter break. Thank you for doing this video. Enjoy your time off all the captains and their crews. It’s nice seeing all the tugs getting a break too. 😊

[@joeyjamison5772]

I drove out to the end of the peninsula in 1974. Wisconsin is beautiful!

[@livinglikeananimal]

Winter layup pics are always such a cozy sight, something about seeing all the ships together like great hibernating leviathans huddling together for warmth until the ice thaws and it's time to work again. It looks like the Gott is getting some TLC with her paint job from here. :) Thank you for filming these!

[@sarah-fu6et]

thanks you for this.nice to see them all snuggling together against the cold lol.

[@connorpatton1919]

This year in Cleveland Harbor the barge vessels Michigan Trader and Joseph H. Thompson are in winter layup. The tugs that accompany those ships are here as well. This is the first time since I have grown to enjoy the Great Lakes freighters that I have seen those ships here for winter. I should note that their port of call is Escanaba, MI. Great video!

[@joedesautel6092]

Some ice in harbor channel and open water in the canal Park channel the ships are moving good 👍

[@steveb855]

Interrupting the peaceful music with horn blasts is like an alarm clock buzzer in the middle of a nice nap.

[@tomglessing3748]

Great video, thanks,looks like a road trip to Sturgeon Bay is in order!

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Have fun!

[@kirkfranklinboy1986]

thank you

[@foto3077]

Amazing video and pictures. Thanks

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you!

[@sparkybluefox]

BRAVO ! Very well done presentation ! Great Drone camera work and Great audio track ! BRAVO !

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you!

[@jerimunson5175]

rest easy ladies.... the season will open again before we know it ... thank you

[@alecfromminnenowhere2089]

Nice! I have always wanted to go to Sturgeon Bay, but certainly wouldn't have this view if I did.

[@Geraldinslo]

I really enjoyed this, thank you Gary C

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Very welcome

[@nhess2020]

Beautiful ❤

[@joeweimer3163]

Great job thanks Gary

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you Joe!

[@LynneAnn51]

Fantastic video, thank you! We are missing our “ladies” coming through Port Huron. Have a relaxing winter break. 🤗

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you!

[@johnmacqueen1777]

Great video and stills!

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you!

[@charliem.550]

Nice video - thanks for sharing!

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you!

[@gojjjddoooj]

I really miss working the winter fleet!! sadly im stuck inside working dod this winter but it does have its upside staying warm.. Great video!!

[@jameskiehm546]

Also great to see the Bay Ship Building facility still in operation after Palmer Johnson and Peterson closed.

[@jameskiehm546]

Amazing how they thread the SB canal with some speed.

[@peaceraybob]

The US Jones Act. A modern-day Navigation Act and own-goal of epic proportions.

[@user-wc1ft6jv8r]

I can hear that horn all the way to Texas hahahaha

[@StephenLPhotos]

6:45 wow, gotta deepen that channel, she's stirring up all kinds of mud!

[@shawncosmos5431]

Great video!

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Thank you!

[@shawncosmos5431]

@@GaryCihlarPhotography I’m a real behind the scenes guy. Be interesting to know and see what goes on with these ships while laid up. Maintenance and dealing with zero degrees in port…

[@treeandaturd]

It’s the Kemo Sabe Miner if you ask Tonto.

[@IKhanNot]

Are they in cold layup or do they at least run accessories and the bilge pumps?

[@marywarren8553]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@tomt9543]

When do these lakers usually go back to work? Being in NC, my knowledge of this stuff is sparse, but my love of it is huge! Thanks for a great video!

[@jimzeirke9320]

Early to mid March depending if they need to transit the Soo Locks. The locks don’t open until sometime in the latter half of March.

[@JamesMartin-fm8ke]

Soo locks will open mid March of 2023 and the boats will go back to work.

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

Soo Locks opens March 25 at 12:01 AM, I should have some video of the opening weekend.

[@elsdp-4560]

Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed. Is the Gott the biggest?

[@mattharper588]

The Paul R Tregurtha is the largest at 1,013.5 feet

[@elsdp-4560]

@@mattharper588 Thank you for that Matt.

[@mattharper588]

I worked on the Gott during construction

[@elsdp-4560]

@@mattharper588 I Just watched a video of the Paul R. Tregurtha, she is a long one.

[@mattharper588]

@@elsdp-4560 Boat nerds call her the Queen

[@Ivc406]

Great to see altogether, excuse my ignorance how do the push tugs connect to there barges, is it by mechanical means ok r are they tethered with cables?regards from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿❤️🇬🇧

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

An articulated tug barge (ATB) has a saddle in the barge. The tug drives in, and there are hydraulic rams that come out from the tug into gears in the barge. The tug can now push pull and steer the barge. Look up the coupling system for ATB.

[@Ivc406]

@@GaryCihlarPhotography Thank you, I have built tugs and other ships but had not come across this type of set up regards and thanks for you're channel 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@irench]

Is the water that shallow at the new bridge that the props pull muck? Sturgeon Bay sure has changed in the decades since I last visited or lived there.

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

I have dove many areas in the bay, its all 28-30' +, There is 4-5' of silt on the bottom, which means prop wash will easily stir that up.

[@irench]

@@GaryCihlarPhotography I know the canal is 90 or that's what the spec was when ACE dug it through. I also believe the center was dredged to allow for deeper drafts. Yeah at less than 40 the prop wash would put up that mess in the water. Poor fishes.

[@seldoon_nemar]

Why do they sit so high waiting for their turn in dock? they are much higher than an "empty" draft it looks like. is this because there's no fuel/fresh water/etc onboard to facilitate maintenance? or do they usually have ballest onboard while empty to aid in stability?

[@chesterbuck1841]

they have to add ballast for stability when empty, it all gets pumped out when layup for winter or adjusted when they are loaded,

[@theolddoctor4492]

Are ships of this nature utilized in other parts of the world, or strictly used on the great lakes??

[@mattharper588]

They do not leave the Great Lakes

[@theolddoctor4492]

@@mattharper588 Thanks, I always wondered about that.

[@mattharper588]

I should correct myself there are ships similar to these ships though out the world but these ships were designed specifically for the Great Lakes to haul dry cargo like coal,taconite,salt etc I use to work at Bay Ship 70s and 80s when they were building the 1000 footers that was a cool job

[@vannorman1116]

Why is the Walter in the dry dock for

[@CatarineausArmory]

I am under the impression the ice does not get thick enough to damage hulls and props? South Texas asking...

[@GaryCihlarPhotography]

The ice is thick enough that they drive cars on the bay to go ice fishing. In the spring when the ships are getting ready to leave, tugs need to break ice and the Coast Guard will be breaking paths for them to travel in.

[@CatarineausArmory]

@@GaryCihlarPhotography Roger that sir. I guess this does not damage hulls or props?

[@mattharper588]

Around the propellers they put air hoses so it doesn’t freeze look at time stamp 13:15 and you can see they have air hoses around the graving dock doors

[@andrewaxelson2236]

I have a question. I grew up in Milwaukee all my life I remember back in the early 80s a ship breaking loose from one of the piers in Jones Harbor does anybody remember that?

[@jamesnelson6980]

That was the E.M. FORD from Inland Lakes Management. She was in layup with a load of storage cement for LaFarge. She was banged against the dock by high winds, which opened a big gash in her hull. She settled on the bottom of the river up to her main deck. What saved her from the scrap yard was the water mixing with the cement sealed the gash in her hull. She was raised, repaired and returned to service. She was built in 1898 as the PRESQUE ISLE for Cleveland Cliffs Steamship Co. She has since been scrapped.

[@andrewaxelson2236]

@James Nelson thank you... I wasn't that old when it happened

[@mattharper588]

Correct it was the E M Ford after they pumped the water out of her they towed her to Bay Ship in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin l worked on her during her repair they cut the whole bottom off of her and jack hammered all of the cement out that had hardened and put a new bottom on her her engine was awesome to look at it had 18’ open push rods and the crews quarters were right above the engine room I can’t imagine how those guys were ever able to sleep with that thing running

[@jamesnelson6980]

@@mattharper588 Hello, Matt.... You're right, the crews quarters above the engine room must have been rough. When I was on the J R. SENSIBAR from the Columbia fleet, the deckhands room was right below the chain locker, and when the anchor was let go, and I had the top bunk, you soiled yourself it was so loud!

[@4wheelliving132]

Not being from this area I assume those are ore boats. Hard to believe there's that much ore mining still in that area

[@mattharper588]

This is where they lay up for the winter there are no iron ore mines in Sturgeon Bay edit they also carry coal,crushed stone,salt pretty much any dry cargo

[@JamesMartin-fm8ke]

Iron ore mining in Northern MN and the UP of Michigan where these boats load up and distribute the ore pellets to steel mills along the Great Lakes.

[@jerrydutra3225]

Some of the boats have guy nàmes as opposed calling the majority ladies or girls

[@ripperace]

Most do. I can only think of a couple that were named after women. Even though boats, and ships are generally referred to as “she.”

[@jonathanellsworth21]

Lee Tregurtha and Kaye Barker are the only two lakers named after women that I know of. But maritime tradition has the ships called “she”. Anything else is almost an insult, especially in the old days, even if the ship has a male name

[@seigelno7]

@@jonathanellsworth21 If you are counting barges, there is Dorthy Ann. Also, the articulated tug Joyce VanEnkevort.