Primary Info Flashcards
How long is the Mac
290 feet
How wide is the Mackinaw
74 feet, 4 inches (or 5 inches depending on the source)
When was the Mackinaw commissioned
December 20, 1944
Where was the Mac built
Toledo Ship Yard by Toledo Shipbuilding Company
Relevant dates of it’s construction
Authorized by US congress 10 days after Pearl Harbor
Keel laid in March, 1943
Launched March, 1944 ( had limited superstructure, which was added later)
Commissioned December 20, 1944
Why did the Toledo Shipbuilding Company go bankrupt, and who completed the construction.
The contract had a number of penalty clauses and completion bonds.
It was the largest icebreaker ever built with unique design and many new features.
The American Ship Building & Dry Dock Company completed the construction, with a contract that included no penalty clauses.
Final cost $10million .
Quarter deck docent topics
Built during WWII. Commissioned Dec, 1944
Decommissioned June 10, 2006. Served 62 years.
The same day it was decommissioned, the current Mackinaw was commissioned and took over her home port, her duties and her name.
Self paced tour. Follow yellow arrows. 20 numbered signs.
Will lead you to engine room, berthing areas, galley, captain’s quarters, pilot house, etc. There will be guides to tell you more about the ship.
First stop is Officer’s Ward Room where there is a video we would like you to watch with safety tips for being on board and info about why icebreaking is important to shipping on the Great Lakes.
Enjoy your tour!
Engine room topics
Welcome to engine space #2. The middle of 3 engine rooms.
Main job to break ice; 5 main things that enabled that
1. Shape, 2. Weight. 3. Power, 4. Bow propeller 5. Heeling System
Details of Diesel engines.
Connected to DC electric generators.
Send electric power to propulsion motors that are connected to propellor shafts.
Function of Bow Propellor.
Trim tanks and Heeling tanks.
Noise level and ear protection.
Temperature. Large fans blowing air in from the stack. Cold and snowing like the outdoors.
Smell of diesel.
Diesel engine details
6 Fairbanks Morse Diesel engines - vintage 1938
Same engine used for locomotives and submarines.
10 cylinders, 2-stroke, opposed piston engines.
20 Pistons. 8” bore.
Each piston with connecting rod weighs around 75 lbs.
No valves or rocker arms. Pistons act as valves.
Used compressed air to start engine and to force fuel/air mixture into cylinders.
2000hp -4 hour rating, 1750hp continuous
Advantages of diesel/electric propulsion system
- Engines can be placed at most convenient location, don’t have to be in direct line to drive shaft.
- Power from all 6 engines can be sent to which ever propellor needs it
- When change speed of propellor can do so at electric motor and keep the Diesel engines running at most efficient rpms.
Stern propellers
Two
14 feet in diameter
Weigh 10.7 tons
Bow Propellor
12 feet in diameter
7.2 tons
Purpose of bow propellor
Sucks water out from under ice up to 150 feet ahead of ship.
This creates a void under the ice.
So when the ship runs up on top of the ice there is nothing under the ice to support it, so the ship easily breaks through it.
The back wash from the prop also washes all the ice back along the sides of the ship
Ice breaking ability on sheet ice.
Typically 2 to 3 foot sheet ice on the lakes.
Using it’s bow propellor, the Mac could maintain a steady 3 to 4 mph crushing through the ice.
It would burn 600 gallons of diesel fuel in that hour.
So getting about 200 gallons to the mile.
Ice breaking ability on windrow ice
Where ice gets blown up in to high stacks. Often 12-15 feet thick, occasionally 38-40 feet.
Using trim system, can pump water to stern, which raise bow, then drive forward onto the windrow, then pump water back to bow to weight it, to crush through ice.
Can use heeling tanks to pump 112,000 of water in 90 seconds from one side of ship to other to help crushed ice and/or to back ship off ice and then repeat the process.
No one could be on deck when using the trim or heeling system. Relief valves (man hole covers) could pop up and flood deck.
The Mackinaw never met ice it couldn’t eventually break through.
How much water is carried in ballast, trim tanks and heeling tanks?
345,828 gallons
How much diesel fuel is carried?
346,910 gallons
in a number of different gas tanks
along sides and bottom of ship.
How much freshwater is carried?
40,200 gallons.
Top speed of Mac
18.7 knots or 21.3 mph
Typical speed and fuel usage.
13.5 mph
Would use 150 gallons of diesel per hour
Getting around 11 gallons to the mile.
Only needed 2 engines to manage this speed in normal conditions (no ice and calm sea).
What was weight of Mackinaw
5,250 tons
Over 10 million pounds
What was normal draft of ship when fully loaded
19’2”
Now it has no water and no fuel so current draft is around 13’6”, which is why the stern propellers and the rudder are visible from the dock.
How long would the Mackinaw be out?
It had to go into a port every 7-10 days.
To empty black water tanks and to take on more fresh food.
It might be away from it’s home port of Cheboygan for as long as 6 months in some years but more commonly not more than a month or 2.
Break out?
Happens every year around mid- March.
Soo Locks open around March 25.
Mackinaw would start breaking ice on St. Mary’s River, east of the locks a week to 10 days prior. Then would break out around locks and then into Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior. Also would break out through the Straits.
How far did the Mackinaw travel on the lakes.
The Coast Guard Office in Cleveland would decide where each of the icebreakers was most needed.
Mackinaw would commonly create a down bound and an up bound track to Duluth on Lake Superior, traveled to Buffalo on Lake Erie to help break out the harbor there, and to Chicago on Lake Michigan.
Once traveled to Montreal, on the Saint Lawrence Seaway for the 1967 World’s Fair.
Could the Mackinaw leave the Great Lakes?
When it was first built, it was too big to get through the Welland Canal connecting Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
This canal was later widened so it could fit, with about 2.5 feet to spare.
But the engines require fresh water from the lakes to keep the engines cool, and salt water would damage this cooling system, so if it ever travelled in salt water it would not have lasted long.
Details of fueling the Mackinaw.
The Mackinaw holds 346,910 gallons of diesel fuel.
It was filled at the start and end of ice breaking season, only twice a year. Managed by the Fuel King and a duty crew of up to 29 people. Typical needed around 150,000 - 200,000 gallons at a fill up.
If it was filled using tanker trucks, which it was sometimes, and if was nearly empty (which it probably wasn’t) it would take 38 trucks each holding 9,000 gallons of fuel to fill her.
If filled by large on shore holding tank, would take over 5 hours to fill her, pumping at 650 gallons per minute.
At today’s prices of around $3.00 per gallon of diesel, it would cost over $1,000,000 to fill her.
When was the Mackinaw decommissioned?
June 10, 2006
1982 was significant why?
First discussion of decommissioning the Mackinaw.
Since old, inefficient, expensive to run, and difficulty finding parts.
10 other ice breakers were decommissioned.
But Mac was not since no other ship could keep the lakes open as well
$1.7 million dollar overall. Replaced the service generators that provide electricity for the ship, which required cutting holes through the decks of the ship and then welding them back in place afterwards. Replaced large cranes on fantail with much smaller one. Refurbished 4 of the 6 Westinghouse generators that are connected to the Diesel engines.
Construction details
No rivets since would pop under pressure from ice.
30 miles of single bead welding. Many of the welders were women since built during war time, and men were serving overseas.
1 ⅝ thick steel hull along ice contact area, 1 ⅜ thick elsewhere
(typical thickness of commercial ship is .5 to .75 inches)
Ribs 16” on center, much closer than most ships. - (2 to 3 feet - frame spacing )
Cork on walls for insulation and sound dampening.
New Mackinaw
Commissioned same day this Mackinaw was decommissioned.
Took over the home port and the duties.
240 feet long, 58 feet wide, 16 feet draft, crew of 55.
Has two 10 foot diameter propellers on rotating propulsion pods that can swivel 360 degrees. So can travel in any direction.
Can break ice up to 32” thick, or 8-12 feet of brash ice
9200 horsepower vs old Mac 10,000hp at propellors
Mackinaw , otherwise known as WAGB 83
W - all coast guard ships since WWII
AGB - Arctic Glacier Breaker ( which is the same as the Arctic ice breakers)
83 - is it’s hull number
Crew size
Originally 130.
Later reduced to 75 - (8 officers + 67 enlisted) and reduced to 12 hours of operations a day.
Everyone has a primary duty station. Serve 4 hours on, 8 hours off.
Also have collateral duties.
New crew typically work in Scullery so they, can meet the rest of crew.
Women started serving on board in 2000.
Command structure
Captain is in charge when at sea.
Executive Officer in charge when docked.
When in restricted water, either the captain, the XO or the chief operations officer will be in pilot house to coach whoever is on the “conn” - steering the boat
Early pay for enlisted men.
Earned $50 per month which the captain had them paid in $2 bills. Since not a common denomination, when the merchants in Cheboygan got a $2 bill they could readily see the financial impact of having the Coast Guard stationed there.
Noise level
During ice breaking, it was quite loud and everyone was encouraged to wear ear protection 24 hours a day.
Plus the sounds of the 6 engines, 3 service generators and other motors on board, loud speakers sounding announcement regularly, and occasional alarm bells and whistles, made for a very loud environment.
Interesting facts about engine parts
1938 engines. Parts no longer made for these engines.
In later years, coast guard would send out requests to junk yards in the mid-west to scavenge old locomotives for engine parts.
Machine shop on board, so crew could often manufacture needed parts.
Captains
First - Cmdr. Edwin J Roland - 1944-1946
Last - Cmdr. Joe McGuiness - 2003-2006
30 total
Impact of Mackinaw on Ice Breaking and shipping
Lakes typically frozen 4.5 months of year
With Mackinaw - open an additional 6 weeks
- each additional 10 days open = 3.5 million tons of materials
- so 6 weeks = 14 million additional tons of materials;
Iron ore, limestone, coal, grain,etc.
Galley
6 cooks
Typically 3 on duty at a time
Take turns as Duty Cook of day - in charge
Another does Breakouts - bringing food stuffs up from storage and ordering food.
Also got “mess cook” support from deck and engineering crew
$750 per day for food, $2.78 per meal per crew, 8.34 per person per day, $20,000 monthly. Start of ice season would on load $60,000 of dry food and spend another $20,00 over next 4 months for fresh food
Always hot soup available during ice breaking season
Most important machine on board - the coffee maker
Other US ice breakers on the Great Lakes
Two - 225 ft Juniper Class can break ice up to 30” thick
Crew 50- 42 + 8 officers- also buoy tenders
Hollyhock in Port Huron and Alder in Duluth
Five - 140 ft Bay Class - use bubbler system to help break ice
up to 30” thick ice ,
17 crew- 14 + 3 officers
Stationed in : Detroit, Sault Saint Marie, Saint Ignace, Cleveland and Sturgeon Bay, WI
Propulsion Motors
Three
Westinghouse - 900 Volts
5000 horsepower each
Service Generators
Three. Provide electricity to the ship. Replaced in 1982 Caterpillar - D379, Diesel V-8, 450 Volts, 674 amps AC current
Big Bertha
Constant tension towing winch
Some years not used at all
2,200 feet of 2” 6x37 galvanized steel cable
94,000 max rated pull
308,000 breaking strength
Weighs 6.72 or 7.4 (depending on source) per foot
Location designation
First segment: 1= Main Deck, next down is 2, next up is 01
Second segment: Frame # starting at bow, from 0-210
0-70 of main deck is Officer Country where worked and slept
All enlisted men were below main deck
Back of Quarter Deck is 140
Third segment: 0= center line, odd= starboard, even= port
Terminology:
Right, left (when facing the front of ship), front, back
Beds, bathrooms, medical center, Kitchen, dish room, dining room
Entrance way for boarding ship
Roofed area on main deck - outside Officers Ward room on right and outside dining hall on left side
Back open portion of main deck
Starboard, Port, Bow, Stern berths, heads, Sick Bay, galley, scullery, mess deck The Brow Wind Castle Fantail
Captain’s Quarters
Office, berth, head, lounge,
Carpeted- “being called on carpet”
Dignitary state rooms
Pantry and ladder down to galley
Could eat meals here, last Captain chose to eat most of his meals with his crew- changing leadership style
Public Relations: Accompanied Chicago to Mackinac Is. sailboat race
Attended Coast Guard gathering every year in Grand Haven
Christmas trees to Chicago.
Pilot House
Also known as Bridge
When at sea, always someone at :Throttles, Helm, Navigation table. Often were others in training.
Stood their watch - 4 hours on, 8 hours off.
Only chair was Captain’s.
Navigation info
Quartermaster of the watch - QMOW
Lay down fix of ship on the nautical chart - drawing lines
Using visual bearings, radar, gps or dead reckoning
Every 15 minutes in open water
Every 6 minutes in a river
Every 3 minutes in restricted waters
Adjust course based on each fix
Bosun Mate of the Watch - BMOW
Makes hourly rounds of the decks
Checks that all people in operations are accounted for
(Not fallen overboard or hurt in a rarely visited part of the ship)
Helmsman and lookout
Helmsman has hands on the wheel.
a joystick was available also.
Drive with “seaman’s eye”- steer on a lighthouse or a tip of land,etc; OR follow a gyrocompass bearing.
Ship can also be steered from Rudder Room if linkage fails
Above him on flying bridge is a lookout with powerful binoculars
Can talk through copper voice tube
In inclement weather lookout maybe in conning station conected by intercom
Radar
Mackinaw equipped with 3 radar units
1 is set to a range for navigation
1 is set to track other vessels in the area
1 is set for short range to monitor ice ridges
Conning towers
Were added after the ship was already in service
Much better view of bow, stern and side of boat.
Can run ship from here and was used in restricted water.
The Pilot house or Bridge
When underway, acts as the brain of the ship
All information about the external environment and internal systems is routed here for processing.
Lots of communications equipment
General quarters and collision alarms .
Cane for use in emergency electrocution.
Two compasses - magnetic compass and gyrocompass (which uses the spin of the earth to determine true north)
The red and green balls next to compass are used to adjust for deviation caused by all the electronics and metal on the ship
Route planning
Nautical charts were prepped weeks ahead of time when possible .
Ordering charts, “gazetteer” them to specifications of the Mac (highlighting shoals, marking certain landmarks, and plotting planned courses.) then put tape over the highlights so they don’t get erased.
Used old style navigation - only about 20 Coast Guard ships use this method.
When underway, 4 people at plot table.
Evaluator - overseeing the big picture and passing info to deck watch officer
Plotter - actually working with chart, picking out points, taking measurements
Logger - the Quarter Master of the Watch- tells helmsman what to do
Radar - keeping track of what is on the radar
Evolution
Anything the ship will do that has risk involved.
Pulling into port, anchoring, entering a river, approaching close to another ship or getting a ship into the stern notch for towing.
Plan for it ahead of time with all involved teams or unit leaders.
GAR risk assessment, rating each aspect of an operation: Supervision, planning, selection (qualified personnel), fitness (is crew ready physically and mentally), environment (windy or other conditions), and complexity.
Throttles
3 sets, one in bridge and one in each conning tower
One throttle for each propellor
Can steer just using throttles by using different speed and directions (forward or reverse) for each.
So for example, bow prop at 30 turns ahead and stern props in reverse and ship will turn on a dime.
30 turns per minute on 2 aft shafts equals 3 knots, 75 turns = 10 knots, 105 turns=about 13 knots
Operations Department
Made up of
Deck Division - headed by First Lieutenant
Navigation Division
Ops Division
Other main Department is Engineering - with 43 crew
Engine “lite off”
Starting up the Fairbanks Morse Diesel engines.
Takes 3 people
32-step checklist
“Blow down” is when a blast of air in each cylinder blows out all the old oil and fuel and any dirt prior to starting.
Uses compressed air to get Pistons moving
Engine usage
Summer run down a lake uses 2 engines with 2 on standby
In rivers or narrow channels - 4 engines are used
For tricky maneuvering and for ice breaking- all 6 engines
Engine use is rotated so all get about the same amount of use
The rudder
12'2" tall 9'6" wide Wedge shaped Leading edge is 18", trailing edge is 4" Ice horn behind to protect it when backing up Keel protects it when going forward.
Two Hydraulic Pistons turn it, with a back-up electric winch system
Can steer the ship just using props
Motor rooms
A below deck bridge.
Controls the engines and motors from here
Lots of gauges and controls and communications with bridge
Old technology- pre-computer.
A-gang
5 crew members in engineering with most diverse jobs
Maintain: potable water systems, refrigeration,air conditioning, all hydraulic systems (including the steering system), the small boat davits, the small boat engines and drive systems, the cranes, the towing winch,all the galley equipment, the lube oil system, the fuel oil system and all hazardous materials on board.
These are the handy men on the ship who are called on to fix everything besides the engines and generators.
Sewage
Fresh water
Grey water - from sinks and showers. Can be pumped into lake when away from port. Not true for current Mackinaw.
Tank can only hold 3 days of grey water.
Black water- from toilets. In the 40’s could be discharged into lake. No longer. Tanks holds 7,300 gallons, which is enough storage for about 14 days. Uses vacuum sewage system to suck water into tank.
In Cheboygan, connects to city sewer line.
In Chicago - pumps into a tank truck at cost of $700.
40,200 gallons of fresh water
Also pumps water from lake for sanitary use; flushing toilets, boiler, etc.
WW II dates
Pearl Harbor - Dec 7, 1941 D-day - June 6, 1944 Mackinaw commissioned - Dec. 20, 1944 VE Day - May 8 , 1945 VJ Day - Sept. 15, 1945
1915
1939
Lifesaving service and Revenue Cutter Service combined to become Coast Guard.
39 - Coast Guard took over Lighthouse Service.
Color of Mac
All white until 1964 when red stripe added
Then in 1998 was painted all red with white stripe.
New icebreaker
The National Defense Authorization Act, which passed at the end of 2022, included a $350 million authorization for a new heavy icebreaker for Great Lakes.
Why icebreakers?
Like a snow plow on the interstate. Keep the road open in the winter.
Create a down bound and an up bound track / lane all the way to Duluth
A 1,000 ft freighter can carry the equivalent of 3,000 - 25 ton semi-trucks
Or 700 train cars
Per gallon of fuel for each ton of load
- a frighter can travel 607 miles
- a train …202 miles
- a truck 59 miles
Menu for engine room
Lots of info that could be shared.
Offer a menu of choices. Can request a portion or the entire 5 course meal
Hors d’oeuvres - what was like working in the engine room
Main course - the engines and how the Mac broke the ice
Desert - pie - a unique feature of Mac and why it never met ice it couldn’t break through
- ice cream - fuel consumption of Mac
Beverage / wine - why the Mac was retired and 1982.
