Log in

View Full Version : Were Armed Tugboats really used that much?

Thefroglord
11-09-22, 02:41 PM
As I have been playing Silent Hunter 3 I have seen that there are a lot of armed tugboats? From what I know there were only 4 active and only one was really in the Atlantic while the rest were in the pacific. I also did some digging and from what I found they had no depth charges or sonar either. If they were used in such a manner I would love to know!
bstanko6
11-09-22, 11:33 PM
No they weren’t. The game adds them in for flavor!
Thefroglord
11-10-22, 11:13 AM
That's what I thought but thank you for answering!
Hooston
11-17-22, 05:26 PM
I think the US armed tugboat in SH3 is a placeholder for several different classes of tugs.
The USN (and RN) had a lot of ocean going tugs, generally just over 1000 tons and armed with a 3 inch gun plus some light AA. Wikipedia mentions that USS Navajo's depth charges went off as she sank and I would guess that implies they also had sonar. They sometimes sailed with convoys and were especially useful during beach landing operations, for example HMS Warspite was saved by a couple of large US Navy tugs at Salerno.

Take a look here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee-class_tugboat or here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abnaki-class_tugboat
Am I missing something?


edit - I've just found a 1943 USN tug called the "Gay Head". Be careful when googling that one...