The ship America could not have won WWII without.

[dseehafer]

Greetings all,

 

   On the Minnesota North Shore, there is a museum ship which proudly overlooks the port city of Duluth, America's largest inland port. This ship is the William A Irvin and without her, America would have been in no condition to fight WWII.

 

 

To make a long story short, the Irvin brought the American steel industry out of the Great Depression. A little background by author Jody Aho...

 

   " Something was needed to restore confidence in Great Lakes ship owners. The deepening Great Depression saw a tremendous drop in iron ore shipments. By 1932, less than four million tons of iron ore were being shipped on the Great Lakes, compared with more than 15 times that amount only three years earlier. Many boats remained laid up during the Great Depression; those that did sail fitted out for only a few trips and promptly returned to lay-up. No Great Lakes fleets saw the need to increase their carrying capacity by building new vessels.

     By 1937, the nation's economy began to turn around. That Spring, the Pittsburgh Steamship Company announced contracts for the construction of four new ore boats.... These new vessels were designed for several purposes. First, United States Steel wanted to express their confidence that the nearly eight-year economic downturn was over, and better times were at hand..."

 

The Irvin became the first of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company's four new boats to be launched - the first new ore boat built on the Great Lakes in over seven years. Needless to say, the Irvin was the spark that re-ignited a massive fire of shipbuilding on the Great Lakes just in time for World War two. One must remember that the majority of the nation's steel comes from the Great Lakes, so without a massive fleet to move ore the United States would not have had enough steel to produce the insane amount of tanks, ships, vehicles, etc.. that they did during the war. We all know that America's massive industrial capability contributed greatly to the Allied victory during WWII.

 

TLDR - Without the Irvin to re-spark shipbuilding on the Great Lakes after the Great Depression, America would not have had enough steel to produce the insane number of tanks, ships, vehicles, etc... that they did during the war.

 

Some Stats...

Length: 610' 10"

Width: 60'

Depth: 32' 6"

Carrying Capacity: 14,000t

Top Speed: 10.9kn (Irvin was the slowest ship in the fleet. Her low speed was intentional to conserve fuel)

Hatch Covers: 18

Cargo Holds: 3

Cost: $1,300,000

Launched: Nov/10/1937

Retired: 1986

Records: On August/27/1940 the Irvin set a record by unloading 13,856t of ore in 2 hours 55 minutes using Hullet unloaders. This record still stands to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HowitzerBlitzer]

I've seen some pretty big waves in the lakes, I wonder how that thing managed to survive storms... long, flat, and a high waterline when loaded up from what I see above. Would expect it to be flimsy.

[Judge_Doom]

1 minute ago, HowitzerBlitzer said:

I've seen some pretty big waves in the lakes, I wonder how that thing managed to survive storms... long, flat, and a high waterline when loaded up from what I see above. Would expect it to be flimsy.

That's what I was thinking....I too have seen some pretty big waves out there on the lakes, scary big. 

[dseehafer]

The ships are built to be flimsy, there's an old saying on the lakes "if they don't bend, they break". Believe it or not, it's safer to be in a storm fully loaded than riding light, you have more control over the ship when it's low and heavy. When the ships are light, half the prop and rudder are sticking out the water, also the wind is able to boss 'em around more the higher they are out of the water.

[Doomlock]

Of course as usual, great post Seehafer! 

[Estimated_Prophet]

...as well; there may not have eventually been the song 'Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' without a rebirth of the Great Lakes ore freighters.

[dseehafer]

Added the ship's statistics to the OP

[Fletcher7_1944]

Lake Superior especially gets nasty storms.  I remember driving along the Southern shore back in the 90's on my way to my grandpa's place in Wisconsin.   A rain squall blew in from out of nowhere, that was so severe I couldn't even see the end of my hood!  It was literally raining sheets, and in complete whiteout.   I even began to wonder if I'd accidentally driven into the lake!   I've been through some sick rainstorms before, micro bursts, Texas Gulley washers, etc- but I've never seen it rain that hard before.

  I can only imagine what it would be like on board a ship in the middle of that...  Howling wind, massive swells, being tossed about like a cork in a bathtub.  The crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald must have died a hellish death.  Same for all the Tin Can sailors we lost to typhoons during WWII.

[Kapitan_Wuff]

William A Irvin OP! Please Nerf!  

[dseehafer]

Interestingly enough when built the Irvin was one of the largest ships on the lakes (only outdone by the Carl D Bradley, another famous Great Lakes shipwreck), but when retired she was the smallest ship in her fleet.

[dseehafer]

1 hour ago, Fletcher7_1944 said:

Lake Superior especially gets nasty storms.  I remember driving along the Southern shore back in the 90's on my way to my grandpa's place in Wisconsin.   A rain squall blew in from out of nowhere, that was so severe I couldn't even see the end of my hood!  It was literally raining sheets, and in complete whiteout.   I even began to wonder if I'd accidentally driven into the lake!   I've been through some sick rainstorms before, micro bursts, Texas Gulley washers, etc- but I've never seen it rain that hard before.

  I can only imagine what it would be like on board a ship in the middle of that...  Howling wind, massive swells, being tossed about like a cork in a bathtub.  The crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald must have died a hellish death.  Same for all the Tin Can sailors we lost to typhoons during WWII.

 

Actually, Lake Huron is the deadliest of the Great Lakes.