Valley Forge returns to Carolina after a four-year face-lift

FORT EUSTIS, Va. (USTCNS) --- After a four-year rebuilding process that included the installation of state-of-art equipment, Valley Forge has been transformed into more than your average tugboat.

Valley Forge LT-2096, berthed and operating at the Military Ocean Terminal, Sunny Point, Southport, N.C. was towed by the 7th Transportation Group, Fort Eustis, Va. to Army Base Hythe, England in May 1997 for a major overhaul under the Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command's 100-foot tug remanufacturing program.

Forge's mission is to serve as a fireboat at the North Carolina water port.

The journey of Forge began with the 7th Transportation Group, towing the 1954 model fireboat to Hythe, England. Repair workers began the extensive renovation project replacing almost everything except the hull.

"The engines, propulsion systems and electronics, and everything else needed to modernize it and bring it up to speed with all other Army tug boats of a similar class was replaced," said MTMC DSC project manager Ezra Roberson.

"When the tug went into the Army rebuild program at Hythe, it could only pump 4,000 gallons of water per minute and had a 1,200-horsepower main engine," Roberson said. "The tug has a 2,500-horsepower engine and can pump 2,000 gallons of foam per minute and more than twice as many gallons-per-minute of water than when she went into the shop."

After its four-year renovation stay at Army Base Hythe, the tugboat began its journey back to MOTSU.

TACOM's project manager for the 100-foot tug program, "coordinated the return of the tugboat aboard MV Strong Virginian where it was shipped to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for further transit to Baltimore, Maryland," said Steven Presley, Valley Forge's chief mate. "It arrived in Baltimore in August where it was berthed at the Coast Guard Repair Facility in Glenn Bernie for another six months to undergo further modernization and correction of minor problems identified by the tugboat's personnel." Once completed, it was towed by the 7th Group to MOTSU arriving in late March.

The overhaul "enhances our ability to carry out our primary firefighting mission here at Sunny Point during loading and unloading of hazardous cargo," said Presley. It "increases our value to the immediate area for general firefighting assistance to the marine shipping industry and waterfront facilities. The crew here is very happy to have her back where she belongs at MOTSU." (FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND, DEPLOYMENT SUPPORT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).