This Great Lakes Boat Blog is presented by Manistee Harbor Tours, operator of the Princess of Manistee. Book your cruise at www.manisteeharbortours.com.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
MANISTEE — The historic U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tugboats Racine and Kenosha continue their work in Manistee Harbor, where crews are now focused on stone placement and rehabilitation efforts along the south breakwater as part of a nearly $2 million federal harbor improvement project.
The vessels, assigned to the Corps’ Lake Michigan Floating Plant, arrived in Manistee earlier this spring and have been supporting maintenance operations designed to strengthen critical harbor infrastructure and improve long-term resiliency against erosion and severe weather.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the project includes placing approximately 3,000 tons of stone throughout the harbor structures. Current work is centered on the south breakwater connector and south breakwater head, where crews are installing scour stone to prevent erosion below the structure and armor stone to protect portions above the waterline.
The Corps also is replacing damaged safety ladders and railings and installing new timber fenders along the north revetment near the U.S. Coast Guard station. The overall project is expected to take about two months.
For maritime enthusiasts, the work has drawn additional attention because of the age and history of the tugboats themselves.
Racine, built in 1931 by Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Co. of Duluth, Minn., is among the oldest continuously operating government workboats on the Great Lakes. The 66-foot steel-hulled vessel originally operated with steam propulsion before being converted to diesel power during a mid-century modernization program.
Kenosha, built in 1954, represents a later generation of Corps harbor tugs but has also logged more than seven decades of service on the Great Lakes. Originally designated U.S. Army ST-2011, the vessel was specifically designed for harbor maintenance and floating plant operations.
Both tugs are part of the Corps’ specialized Lake Michigan Floating Plant fleet, based primarily in Kewaunee, Wis. The fleet performs breakwater rehabilitation, stone placement and harbor maintenance projects throughout the western Great Lakes.
The south breakwater where the vessels are currently operating is itself a historic structure. Constructed between 1913 and 1920 as part of a major federal harbor improvement effort, the breakwater remains a key component of Manistee Harbor’s navigation system and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Manistee Harbor serves as both a commercial shipping port and a harbor of refuge for recreational boaters on Lake Michigan. Corps officials have said the stone placement and structural improvements are intended to reduce wave energy, minimize overtopping and better protect the harbor from increasingly unpredictable Great Lakes weather conditions.
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This Great Lakes Boat Blog is presented by Manistee Harbor Tours, operator of the Princess of Manistee. Book your cruise at www.manisteeharbortours.com.
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