French tugs - Part 3

Since I have only very few, or very poor photos of the remaining French tugs I wanted to mention, I will lump them together and provide some links to see more.

FOUNDATION VIGILANT

Probably the best known French tug in Canadian waters was also a former Abeille tug.
Built in 1952 as Abeille 26 by Chantier et Atelier St-Nazaire (Penhoet) it was a big ocean going salvage tug of 719 grt. Powered by  two 6 cylinder MANs (built under license by  Soc.Gen.de Con.Mec. La Courneuve) it produced 3,000 bhp

Foundation Vigilant sits idle at Foundation Maritime's salvage shed in the background. In the foreground the Bluenose II gets some recaulking, and Miss Joyce is for sale. (This portion of the harbour has long since been filled in and is now a parking lot.)

Crewmen have a gam on the starboard rail.

Foundation Maritime acquired it in 1958, virtually new, and it figured in several significant salvage operations. With the advent of radar, Decca and improved quality of ships, the bottom fell out of the salvage business and MIL Salvage sold the tug in 1973 to Petrolas Hellas SA (John H. Latsis) of Greece. Renamed Ennea [translation: Nine] the tug worked in the Mediterranean but was eventually broken up in Aliaga starting May 16, 1996.

For more see:  
http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/fm/tugs/vigilant3.jpg
and
http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/fm/tugs/


Marine National

France has  widespread interests in Africa, the Pacific, the Caribbean and North America through former colonies but also as offshore departments. The islands of St-Pierre et Miquelon, off the south coast of Newfoundland is still one of those departments, and is the base for fisheries and other activity in its own sovereign waters.
Over the years France has maintained a naval presence there, with various types of vessels patrolling the area and making courtesy calls to Canadian ports, including Halifax, Saint John, NB, and Gaspé.
From time to time the French Marine National uses its big fleet tugs for patrols, salvage assistance and search and rescue work.

Centaure at HMC Dockyard in 1977.

All three members of the Tenace class of fleet tugs have called in Halifax at various times. Displacing 1440 tons, producing 4600 bhp and 60 tonnes bollard pull, Tenace A669 (1972) , Centaure A674 (1974) and Malabar A664 (1976) were very capable tugs. Not only that, they were armed (to 2014), fitted with salvage and firefighting gear, and they are considered category 2 icebreakers. They were designed to tow disabled French nuclear submarines under any conditions. All three were built by the Oelkers shipyard in Hamburg and fitted out at Ateleier et chantier de la Rochelle, La Pallice and were based in Brest, France.

In 2013 Tenace was sent north to scout out the northeast passage for the French navy. After penetrating to 78 degrees North and 61 degrees East it was turned back by heavy ice.

Centaure, pictured above was sold to the Turkish navy in 199 and renamed Degirmendere (A-576). On December 23, 2013 it capsized while leaving a floating drydock at Izmir. Three people died and 17 were injured. However the tug was raised and is being reconditioned.

Malabar has cleared HMC Dockyard to escort the annual sailing race to St-Pierre.

Malabar is the most recent to have visited Halifax, in July 2012.Both tugs remaining in the French navy were scheduled to be decommissioned in 2014.

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Lonely and Blue

The magnificent tug Ryan Leet has been laid up at pier 9B in Halifax. Just before the arrival of the salvage tow of Australian Spirit on Friday afternoon, the tug moved from the Mobil dock and the crew signed off. I thought it odd at the time that this tug was not used in the salvage tow, but apparently plans to tie it up were in the works and it was not available to use.

Ryan Leet moves to its layup berth on December 12.

The longest serving member of the current Secunda Canada fleet, the tug has been a stalwart for them since 1990. Although mostly used as a standby vessel for offshore work, it has figured in numerous salvage and rescue jobs over the  years, most recently in March 2014 when it worked on the salvage and towed off the grounded bulker John I.near Rose Blanche, Newfoundland.

Now behind a security fence, with only a watchman, it is unclear what the future may bring for the only tug of its type in eastern Canada. With so many more powerful anchor handling tug suppliers available to tow ships when needed, the days of deep sea tugs are numbered around the world. Sadly it is no different here. These wonderful sea boats, built for rescue towing can handle any kind of conditions and are a valuable asset to marine safety.

I have written the story of this tug on this blog several times before, so will only mention in passing that it was built as Abeille Provence in 1977, for use on the French coast. It was replaced by bigger tugs and went to South America as Salvor Commander in 1987. Secunda Marine Services, as it was then, bought the tug and near sister Salvor General ex  Abeille Normandie and reconditioned them for service.

Sisters: Magdelan Sea (foreground) in 2003. The next year it was sold to Greek owners and became Zouros Hellas. In 2007 it became Tsavliris Hellas and is still in service as a salvage tug.

Ryan Leet was re-powered in 1994 with a pair of V-20 GM EMDs of 3,650 bhp each, and was fitted with a retractable 800 bhp omnidirectional bow thruster. For station keeping in standby mode, it can use the thruster only. Its controllable pitch props are in nozzles.

One of Ryan Leet's finer moments, fighting the container fire on the ship Kitano in Halifax harbour, March 23, 2001.

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