The story of Lee A Tregurtha: an 82 year old ship on the Great Lakes

Рет қаралды 6,740

Northern Elevations

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 34

@herk8762 19 күн бұрын

Both theaters of WW2, and a Great Lakes freighter. This ship must never see the scrapper’s torch

@NorthernElevations 19 күн бұрын

All ships working days eventually come to an end, but with her history I’m certain if she ever isn’t able to continue working as a laker that she’d be saved as a museum ship or something similar.

@atsf47legit 22 күн бұрын

Not only is she a WW2 veteran, I think she's the ONLY one left as well. The USS Neshanic was also built for the war, but later turned into a freighter named American Victory. It was unfortunately towed to Turkey for scrapping after a very long layup in 2016-17. The USS Marine Robin was actually at D-Day in June of 1944. After its service it too was converted and renamed the Joseph H. Thompson. In the 1980s it was turned into an articulated barge. It was recently scrapped in the early 2020s due to a failed inspection of all things. This makes Old Chiwawa the lone survivor.

@NorthernElevations 22 күн бұрын

Unfortunately that era was almost 70 years ago, and ships of all things can’t last forever. Makes her even that much more special that she’s still around and as well taken care of as she is! Very interesting hearing about the other veteran ships - I just started ship watching this year so hadn’t heard of these other ships!

@sirboomsalot4902 17 күн бұрын

Neshanic had a hell of a war; she took a bomb hit and shot down two Japanese aircraft and still participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea the very next day

@sirboomsalot4902 17 күн бұрын

The J. A. W. Iglehart is also still around as far as I can find, but only as a cement storage unit. She was built as a tanker way back in 1936, and apparently had a run-in with a U-boat in 1943.

@paulmiskinis3988 16 күн бұрын

I have had the honor to be in Marine City Michigan on the St Clair River to see and here Lee A Tregurtha go by waving my 4×7 Interlake SteamshipCo. flag.

@NorthernElevations 16 күн бұрын

That would be quite the sight! I’ve been meaning to make it across the river more often - I’m on the Canadian side and we don’t haven’t nearly as big of a ship watching community as America does. I’ve seen pictures and videos of groups of people with multiple flags and it seems like a great time!

@fnln544 3 ай бұрын

Absolutely honorable the ship wears her military decorations. Incredible history!

@NorthernElevations 3 ай бұрын

It's amazing the history of some of these ships - and they don't get more historic than the Mini Tregurtha!

@sirboomsalot4902 17 күн бұрын

Great video! I think this is the first piece on her I’ve seen that actually mentioned her being at Tokyo Bay; it’s arguably the most important event she took part in yet not even Wikipedia mentions it. Also, for anyone curious, the second battle star was for her participation in the invasion of Southern France.

@NorthernElevations 17 күн бұрын

Thanks! I did try to gather the most important info from multiple sources. I’m very curious because I was trying to find what each battle star was awarded for but I was coming up blank - is there a good source for that? Other commenters have mentioned the book King of the Oilers which I’ve been thinking about getting

@skycvg Ай бұрын

"Shewawa", I'm sure she has been called worse lol. King of the Oilers, great shots.

@NorthernElevations Ай бұрын

I’m always mispronouncing stuff - narration is far from my strong suit 😂 Glad you liked the shots, it’s a lot of fun catching these ships with the drone!

@skycvg Ай бұрын

@@NorthernElevations np at all, just made me laugh cause 99% including myself pronounce that way until I read Jon Strupp's book King of the Oilers, his dad served on the original Chiwawa AO68

@NorthernElevations Ай бұрын

@ You’re the second to mention the King of the Oilers book, might have to look into that!

@flynorthproductions 4 ай бұрын

Great job on the narration, you're a natural. Interesting history about its wartime service. Your videos are very enjoyable to watch. 👍👍

@NorthernElevations 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for always tuning in! I'm still working on making it feel a bit more natural, but I suppose that comes with time

@andrewspearey392 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic. I had no idea she had been ocean going in her first configuration. Excellent video

@NorthernElevations 3 ай бұрын

Thanks, really appreciate it! It's crazy how many modifications a ship can have cutting sections apart, and welding new additions and all that. It's kept her afloat all these years!

@nicholaslhoneck 3 ай бұрын

My 6-year-old twins and I love your videos! This one was excellent! Thank you!

@NorthernElevations 3 ай бұрын

Very glad to hear it, thanks for watching ☺️

@dawnroberts8701 3 ай бұрын

Many viewing this video wouldn't know how drastically her appearance was changed from USS CHIWAWA to a Great Lakes freighter. The midsection and pilot house are most obvious. You mentioned the convoy she was in being attacked by a German U-boat. Did you know (from "King of the Oilers," by Jon Strupp, son of a crew member) that two torpedoes went UNDER her? The twin "plumes" coming from her stacks are from her scrubber system, which cleans the exhaust from pollution particles before releasing it into the atmosphere.

@NorthernElevations 3 ай бұрын

I had no idea about the torpedos going under her, that's an impressively powerful detail! I work in an industrial setting with boilers and steam equipment, and have a theoretical awareness about scrubbers. It's kind of insane to think of replacing boilers with a diesel engine - the plant I work at was constructed in the 1940's era as well (albeit on land). Our boilers are tightly integrated with their auxiliary equipment, and if it was same on this ship would have been a crazy undertaking.

@dawnroberts8701 3 ай бұрын

Add to that removal of asbestos, accepted as safe in the past. In fact, as an elementary school student, I was awed that, by wearing asbestos suits, our firefighters would be safe from the flames.

@sirboomsalot4902 17 күн бұрын

The forward superstructure is actually part of the original superstructure; they just moved it up onto the forecastle during the conversion and heavily modified it. Theres a photo floating around that shows her mid-conversion, with the original midsection but the superstructure moved up and mostly unmodified.

@stedmanpaula 2 ай бұрын

Excellent!

@NorthernElevations 2 ай бұрын

Really glad you liked it, thanks!

@billyrock8305 28 күн бұрын

Topgun ship fighting evil

@NorthernElevations 26 күн бұрын

She could be my wingman any time 🇺🇸

@Sparrow_Outdoors123 4 ай бұрын

Love the music in this one, very cinematic!

@NorthernElevations 4 ай бұрын

Thanks! I swear finding music is one of the hardest parts of putting videos like this together. Nothing really feels 'right' until you've started working with it