USLHT Elm

USLHT Elm was a motorized derrick barge which was used to build and maintain aids to navigation. She was classed as a lighthouse tender and operated by the United States Lighthouse Service. Elm was launched in 1918 and sold in 1934.

History
United States Lighthouse Service
Name: USLHT Elm
Operator: U.S. Lighthouse Service
Ordered: January 13, 1917
Builder: Rice Brothers, East Boothbay, Maine
Cost: $93,638
Launched: July 23, 1918
Commissioned: July 18, 1919
Identification: Signal letters GVLJ
Fate: Sold August 14, 1934
General characteristics
Displacement: 318 gross tons
Length: 101 ft (31 m)
Beam: 30 ft (9.1 m)
Draft: 6.75 ft (2.06 m)
Installed power: 150 HP 3-cylinder kerosine engine
Propulsion: propeller
Complement: 2 officers, 4 enlisted

Construction

The contract for the hull was awarded to Rice Brothers Corporation in East Boothbay, Maine on January 13, 1917. The contract price was $29,400. On July 10, 1917 a fire broke out in the shipyard which destroyed all but four hull frames. Despite the setback, Elm was launched on July 23, 1918. She was placed in commission on July 19, 1919. Her total cost was $93,638.[1]

Elm's wooden hull was 101 feet (31 m) long with a beam of 30 feet (9.1 m), and a draft of 6.75 feet (2.06 m). Her displacement at that draft was 318 tons. Elm had a single wooden deck. The ship had a single derrick mast with two booms. These were 68 feet (21 m) and 40 feet (12 m) long. The mast was located forward on deck, with the booms swinging aft. A small steam engine was used to power the crane hoists.[1]

Propulsion was provided by a 150-horsepower kerosine-fueled internal combustion engine. This was a 2-cycle, 3-cylinder engine. The cylinders were 14 inches (36 cm) in diameter with a stroke of 18.5 inches (47 cm). This engine drove a right-handed, four-blade cast iron propeller 5.5 feet (1.7 m) in diameter.[1]

She had accommodations for a complement of two officers and four men. There was also a spare stateroom, mess, and galley in a deck house aft on the ship. A cargo hold under the deck had a capacity of 70 tons.[1]

Operational history

Elm's first home port was Tompkinsville, on Staten Island, New York.[2] She was assigned to the Third Lighthouse District which had its main depot at Tompkinsville. In July 1919 Elm began work improving aids to navigation in the Hudson River.[3]

On November 9, 1922, Elm was at Block Island, Rhode Island where she damaged a dock.[4]

In 1930 she was transferred to the Eleventh Lighthouse District and her homeport was changed to Detroit, Michigan.[5][6] On August 1, 1934 the superintendent of lighthouses in Detroit took sealed bids for Elm.[7] She was sold on August 14, 1934.[8] Her ultimate fate is unknown.

References
  1. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for the Fiscal Year Ended 1919. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1919.
  2. Merchant Vessels of the United States. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 1919. p. 527.
  3. Office, U. S. A. Navy Department Bureau of Equipment Hydrographic (1919). Notices of Mariners. ...
  4. Appropriations, United States Congress House Committee on (1924). First Deficiency Appropriation Bill, 1924: Hearing Before Subcommittee of House Committee on Apropriations ... in Charge of Deficiency Appropriations. Sixty-eighth Congress, First Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 261.
  5. Merchant Vessels of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1930. p. 1003.
  6. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Light-Houses to the Secretary of Commerce. Government Printing Office. 1930. p. 9.
  7. "Sealed Proposals". Detroit Free Press. June 23, 1934.
  8. The Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1934. p. 121.
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