Got Enough Headlights? Great Republic Makes a Jump Scare Arrival скачать в хорошем качестве

Got Enough Headlights? Great Republic Makes a Jump Scare Arrival

Seen Great Republic many times before, never lit up like a Christmas Tree though lol. Coming in for a late October iron ore run, the ship unusually had all her floodlights on her bow and sides on, something I’ve only seen on a handful of occasions on any of the Lakers. The light array is likely a holdover from her ASC days, as the few times I’ve seen this before have been on their vessels but even then only a couple times a season. I’d say it was part of her river operating equipment but even ASC’s thousand footers feature those lights, granted very rarely used. Not sure why, wish they did it more often! Built in 1981 as the American Republic, the 634ft long ship was constructed with one purpose: to be the most maneuverable vessel on the planet. While she features the same basic design as vessels such as Algoma Buffalo, Sam Laud and American Courage, she is heavily modified. Featuring a hull designed for maximum control and visibility, she has 8 rudders, two propellers mounted in rotating nozzles, two sets of control thrusters mounted in her hull and a one of a kind pyramid-shaped dual pilothouse featuring the normal forward facing bridge as well as a backwards one and four full control stations. The purpose of all that is to navigate the incredibly tight rivers which branch off the Great Lakes, such as the Cuyahoga and Saginaw, which feature tight bends and spaces barely large enough to fit her. Despite her size she can carry a respectable 24,800 tons, just slightly less than the 25,500 tons her AAA-class fleetmates can carry despite being 133ft shorter in length. Due to her redundant systems, the ship has never suffered a serious grounding or power loss unlike practically every other Laker in existence, although her extra control surfaces can sometimes leave her more vulnerable to ice damage such as when she was assigned a rare mid-winter taconite contract on a cross-Lake Erie run but ultimately could only make the trip twice, suffering extensive issues despite a coast guard escort. The ship made international headlines in 1996 when she mounted the Olympic Torch on her deck, carrying it from Detroit to Cleveland as part of its relay to the games that year in Atlanta. She received her current name and paint scheme in 2011 when she was purchased by Great Lakes Fleet to fill a void in their lineup, all their other ships being 760+ft long. The ship is spending this winter in Toledo getting perhaps the largest overhaul of her career, having the entire bottom of her hull replaced in Toledo OH. It’ll be interesting to see if she keeps all her rudders and equipment through that work, modern technology has likely rendered a lot of that redundant, as evidenced by the success of other, even larger lakers in the rivers she was designed for which don’t feature anywhere near the rather excessive amount of equipment mounted on her, plus the introduction of the Mark W Barker as the most advanced ship of the type has entirely removed her from the tightest river, the Cuyahoga. Guess we’ll see! I’ve heard many people speculate that Anderson or Clarke may return to fill in if she isn’t ready on time, but I’d consider that very unlikely simply because they’d need to be drydocked and inspected before sailing, and since both are in Toledo as well, Great Republic is occupying that drydock already. So if either is to sail next year, it would probably have to be after she leaves. Hope you enjoy!