Tom Wenstadt, our Door County correspondent, reports that the M/V AMERICAN MARINER departed Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Wednesday morning March 27,  2024. She proceeded out ice free Sturgeon Bay toward the bay of Green Bay, up Green Bay, through Rock Island Passage and into Lake Michigan. She is heading to Silver Bay, Minn., to pick up her first load of taconite for the season.

The AMERICAN MARINER was built by Bay Shipbuilding for the American Steamship Co. of Buffalo, New York, in 1979. The vessel has had few accidents.  However, early April 28, 2000, the vessel’s steering failed causing a significant collision with a channel marker light tower just north of Port Huron doing considerable damage to its bow.  It took a day and a half to clear the channel for numerous other vessels to pass.  After repairs at Toledo Ship Repair, the AMERICAN MARINER continued to serve its owner.

Specifications:

            Length           730 feet

            Beam (width) 78 feet

            Depth             45 feet

            Capacity        37,300 tons

            Power             2  3600 horsepower EMD V20 diesel engines turning one propeller bow and stern thrusters

            Self-Unloading rate 6,000 tons per hour

Watch for the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding winter fleet in December, 2024.  Also check out the construction of two large fabrication buildings at the south end of the yard. They will be used to construct large sections of a new series of US Navy frigates. Upon completion the sections will be barged across Green Bay and assembled into complete vessels.

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Tom Wenstadt, who lives in Sturgeon Bay, is a retired marine engineer, having worked in the Great Lakes area for thirty-seven years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and is the author of Freighters of Manitowoc. He is a member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and the Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society. He is a volunteer archival assistant and docent for the JOHN PURVES.

Photo by Bob Kuhn:  AMERICAN MARINER dated December 28, 2019

This story was originally posted on March 30, 2024.