Largest warship to enter Great Lakes?

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Admiral Beez	Largest warship to enter Great Lakes?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 4071 ( 4-Sep-2007 20:11:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Which is the largest warship to enter the Great Lakes from the St. Lawrence, and through the Welland Canals? Also, how about the largest warship to get into Lake Ontario, but too big to pass the Welland Canal? With the St. Lawrence Seaway taking large container and cruise ships, the limiting factor I'd imagine would be the Welland Canal. The Welland Canal has a depth of 7.6 m (25 feet), with locks 233.5 m (766 feet) long by 24.4 m (80 feet) wide. Thus, Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers, with Length: 567 feet (173 m), Beam: 55 feet (17 m) and Draught: 31 feet (9.5 m) should be able to navigate the canal and enter the upper Great Lakes, provided the draft could be reduced to less than 25-ft. Last Edited By: Admiral Beez 4-Sep-2007 20:16:16. Edited 1 time.
hoist40		#1	[-]
Posts: 913 ( 5-Sep-2007 02:21:27) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The ex-USS Little Rock is at Buffalo as a museum ship. I don't know what they had to do to get it there.
Admiral Beez		#2	[-]
Posts: 4073 ( 5-Sep-2007 03:44:48) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	With a length of 610' 1", beam of 66' 4" and a draft of 20', the USS Little Rock is an easy fit for the Welland Canal. Of course, to get to Buffalo, NY you don't need to enter the Welland system, IIRC.
hoist40		#3	[-]
Posts: 915 ( 5-Sep-2007 23:06:32) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Of course, to get to Buffalo, NY you don't need to enter the Welland system, IIRC. Yeah you do, Buffalo is on Lake Erie.
jlyons97		#4	[-]
Posts: 887 ( 6-Sep-2007 16:12:41) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I once had a boss who went through in the late '50s as a midshipman on one of the three CA biggies (N. News, Salem, Des Moines: not sure which).
Admiral Beez		#5	[-]
Posts: 4087 ( 8-Sep-2007 11:40:31) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	hoist40 wrote: Of course, to get to Buffalo, NY you don't need to enter the Welland system, IIRC. Yeah you do, Buffalo is on Lake Erie. Oh bugger, you're right. My only memories of Buffalo are those dreadful shopping trips as a lad with my parents, so I'd repressed my memories of that outlet mall-strewn city.
JBren1		#6	[-]
Posts: 135 ( 9-Sep-2007 03:11:39) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal locks have the same limiting ship size, L730'B78'. Allowable draft varies slighty but a little over 26' in general. The allowable beam was increased slightly some years ago by allowing less clearance to the lock walls; it's common now to see Canadian lakers rebuilt with a couple of feet extra beam in the cargo section fairing back to the original beam in the engine room section, so critical are those economies of scale. The locks to get from the upper St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario are generally referred to, certainly by people who navigate them, as 'the Seaway'; the whole waterway from Duluth, MN to the mouth of the St. Lawrence is sometimes called the "St Lawrence Seaway System". Below the Seaway locks on the St. Lawrence, IOW Montreal etc., much larger ships can call. Largest warship I can find a web reference to passing Seaway/Welland Canal is Baltimore class CA Macon, 673'-5"70'-10"24' load http://www.britesites.com/macon/slidemain.htm The Newport News class would fit though 716'-6"75'-4"*26 load, and there was a recent (maybe still active?) proposal to tow USS Des Moines to Milwaukee as a museum. Joe
bager1968		#7	[-]
Posts: 2548 ( 9-Sep-2007 04:05:46) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Des Moines is gone... someone recently posted pics of her in the scrapyard. She was towed on August 21, 2006 to Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping, and arrived there September 7. By July 2007, she had been completely broken up.
EZ Tantrix		#8	[-]
Registered Member Posts: 1 (25-Sep-2007 21:09:03) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	JBren1 actually your information is a bit wrong seeing the the Rt. Hon. Paul J Martan is 739'07" long and has a 78' beam. This is the largest laker that is able to pass the Welland Canal (I believe). Ken
seasick		#9	[-]
Posts: 4034 (26-Sep-2007 00:24:11) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Because of the soaring cost of metals like copper, zinc, steel, and a few others, scrapping is very profitable again. I'm sure other ships waiting around for the torch might be heading to Brownsville soon.
JBren1		#10	[-]
Posts: 138 (26-Sep-2007 18:41:25) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	"JBren1 actually your information is a bit wrong seeing the the Rt. Hon. Paul J Martan is 739'07" long and has a 78' beam. This is the largest laker that is able to pass the Welland Canal (I believe). " Thanks, I see the length limit was also relaxed to 740' from 730' as beam was relaxed from 76 to 78 (the locks sizes haven't changed, and are the same in the Welland Canal and Seaway, both are judgment calls about safety, based on experience, how much clearance is needed from ship to lock walls and gates). The boatnerd site gives Martin as 739-07 and fleetmates CSL Assinboine, Laurentian and Niagara as 739-10, but the also reliable "Know Your Ships" 2005 edition says all four are 739-10, by 78'-01". But note all were originally built in the 1970's to the 730'76' limit and have had new forebodies built which are 78' and slightly longer. The US barge Great Lakes Trader is listed at 740'78'; it was built on the US Gulf Coast and made a one time trip (probably the only time) through the system on delivery. Algoma's Algowood was also lengthened to 740 with no increase in beam, still around 76'. Anyway most Canadian and a number of US lakers are still 730', the old limit. Note that dimensions of merchant ships are traditionally quoted molded, to the outside of the frames, but will sometimes be quoted extreme, to the outside of the shell plating (which is what the Seaway authority cares about) so that can cause minor confusion in quoted dimensions. Joe

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Largest warship to enter Great Lakes?

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