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This Little Baby Boat May Be the Smallest Ship in the Navy
www.popularmechanics.com ^ | Aug 25, 2020 | By Kyle Mizokami

Posted on 10/13/2020 12:33:19 PM PDT by Red Badger

At just 19 feet long, it's used to deploy underwater fences. D'awww.

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A little baby boat is making waves on Reddit. It may be the smallest ship in the U.S. Navy. The "Boomin Beaver" is a security tug that can tow small ships and deploy underwater fences. One of these boats fetched $100,000 in an auction, which sure seems like a lot for a boat this small.

An adorable little tugboat as long as a Ford F-150 is making the rounds on social media, prompting many to call it the “smallest ship in the U.S. Navy.”

At just 19 feet long, the boat is actually “Boomin Beaver” security tug. Originally built to herd logs in waterways, the Navy boat is now an all-purpose vessel that can tow small ships and deploy floating security fences, ensuring that larger submarines, destroyers, and even aircraft carriers don’t receive unwanted visitors.

The tug first popped up on Reddit earlier this week. Chuck's Boat and Drive in Longview, Washington built these boats for loggers, and at some point, the U.S. Navy purchased scores of them for various harbor duties. One Redditor identified this particular tug as operating out of Point Loma Sub Base in California, saying:

"It’s a security tug. Those protective barriers surrounding the water portion of the navy base don’t move themselves. It’s the equivalent of opening the gate for cattle to go in and out. Unlock it, unlatch it, swing it open, and close it when the ship has passed."

Indeed, Boomin Beavers can be seen in Google Maps at the USS Constitution Museum in Boston. The Beaver at Boston Harbor can also be seen here, where it's described as “operating the floating barrier” that surrounds the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy. The ships are also visible at several naval bases across the U.S., including Naval Base Kitsap Bangor, and Naval Base San Diego.

The Boomin Beaver alongside the USS Constitution.

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All of the Boomin Beavers are located near floating security nets, identified in the imagery as lines of connected buoys. The nets provide a visible security cordon—a “do not cross” line that keeps local shipping away from billion dollar warships. You can catch similar tugs at Norfolk Naval Station and Kings Bay, Georgia.

One of the tiny boats was put up for government auction in 2006. The listing described the boat as 19 feet long and 10 feet wide, with a draft of 5 feet. The power plant is listed as a Cummins 6BTA5.9 diesel engine rated at 260 hp with ZF marine transmission. The highest bid for the boat was $100,025, which seems like ... a lot for a boat this small.

But then again, nothing is cheap when it comes to Navy ships.


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Outdoors; UFO's
KEYWORDS: beaver; boomin; boominbeaver; loggers; logging; tug; tugboat
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1 posted on 10/13/2020 12:33:19 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

The Boomin Beaver

No comment.


2 posted on 10/13/2020 12:37:07 PM PDT by dp0622 (Tried a coup, a fake tax story, tramp slander, Russia nonsense, impeachment and a virus. They lost.)
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To: Red Badger

A little dinghy.

The S.S. Anthony Weiner?


3 posted on 10/13/2020 12:37:07 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: dp0622
Oh, a hVrris ad? 😂🙌📴
4 posted on 10/13/2020 12:39:03 PM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: Red Badger

The cutest little dinghy in the Navy...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vuG4SeLgRMY


5 posted on 10/13/2020 12:39:51 PM PDT by jjotto (Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: Red Badger

The Biden.
Our newest aircraft carrier under Biden Harris


6 posted on 10/13/2020 12:41:09 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Leave me alone, I have no incriminating evidence on the Clintons)
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To: Red Badger

“The good news is we’re giving you command of your own ship.”


7 posted on 10/13/2020 12:42:00 PM PDT by Flick Lives (My work's illegal, but at least it's honest. - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Where does the CIWS mount?


8 posted on 10/13/2020 12:42:06 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie (When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.)
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To: Red Badger
Isn't there a book about that boat?


9 posted on 10/13/2020 12:42:30 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: Flick Lives

Lol!


10 posted on 10/13/2020 12:43:24 PM PDT by skr (May God confound the enemy)
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To: Red Badger

That’s gotta really suck. Join the Navy, survive boot, go to officer school, get your boat pilot license, work the chain to get the promotions and you finally get your command and hand you the keys to a bathtub toy.


11 posted on 10/13/2020 12:44:45 PM PDT by discostu (Like a dog being shown a card trick)
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To: Red Badger

For Barbara Mikulski, no doubt.


12 posted on 10/13/2020 12:45:58 PM PDT by simpson96
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To: Red Badger
This is the old school logging version of a cowboy's cutting horse.

As a kid growing up on the Washington coast, we'd often go to a sawmill pond and watch these boom boats (a connected string of floating logs surrounding rafts of logs is called a “boom”)

The operator had so much control with an almost center drive, that he could spin the boat around on it's axis.

13 posted on 10/13/2020 12:46:24 PM PDT by llevrok (Vote while it is still legal! And often.)
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To: discostu

Hey, captain’s bars are captain’s bars................


14 posted on 10/13/2020 12:46:59 PM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger
I would have taken an old PBR out of mothballs and made it ready for service...it would be a better boat than that thing...or just put a trolling motor on a dink


15 posted on 10/13/2020 12:49:27 PM PDT by Bobalu ("You can't serve papers on a rat, Baby Sister. You gotta kill him or let him be." --Rooster Cogburn)
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To: Flick Lives

How is Quinton McHale ever supposed to fit aboard THAT?


16 posted on 10/13/2020 12:50:41 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: Red Badger

That is so adorable. I want to drive it!

Toot toot!!!


17 posted on 10/13/2020 12:53:27 PM PDT by TianaHighrider (God bless President Trump)
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To: jjotto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lJ3M6L7O9I


18 posted on 10/13/2020 1:00:12 PM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (This space vacant until further notice in compliance with social distancing 'guidelines')
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To: Red Badger

Can the squids who drive these things legitimately put “Commanded a Naval Vessel” on their resumes?


19 posted on 10/13/2020 1:02:10 PM PDT by null and void (Surely there must be someone on FR who makes bricks! Contact me if that's you!)
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To: Red Badger

I think I printed a few of those on my 3d printer...


20 posted on 10/13/2020 1:04:11 PM PDT by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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