Once the USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) completely cleared both the Broadway Bridge and the Steel Bridge, two tugboats went to work, turning the destroyer around right in the middle of the Willamette River! The tug at the back pushed; the tug at the front pulled,using a blue strap, and in no time at all the 510 foot long ship went from pointing south to pointing west.
Not that the tugs stopped there. The goal, to turn the ship completely so that it pointed north, the direction that would it would go on Monday, headed to the mouth of the Willamette River where it meets the Columbia River. That's the route the ship would take back to Astoria so that it could reach the Pacific Ocean and head on home. It's totally amazing to watch, fascinating enough that time literally flies by!
I took all of these photos through the openings in a chain link fence erected along the seawall to keep the ships, except at boarding areas, separate from folks walking along in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
3 comments:
Ah... the little, mighty tug at work.
Lynette,
What a great opportunity to sit by you at the lecture last night. You taught me and Kory so much about Mississippi. I now really look forward to my upcoming assignment there.
Thanks for creating such a great blog, and for being such an incredible source of knowledge and information.
Those tug boats are strong.
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