JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Port Authority Talleyrand Marine Terminal helped bring home a historic World War II tug boat Thursday.
The tug boat was donated to the DeLand Historic Trust by private donors. The Trust plans to use it as a national monument in Central Flordia dedicated to the crews and builders of U.S. Army harbor tugs.
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“This is an incredible survivor. It is the only one to ever come home to where it was built,” Dan Friend, DeLand Historic Trust President said.
The 78-year-old tug boat named Tiger ST 479 was built in 1944 near DeLand, and the engine was installed in Jacksonville. Tiger ST 479 arrived at JAXPORT from Sweden aboard the Spliethoff multipurpose vessel Snoekgracht, according to the news release.
The Spliethoff crew used the cargo vessel’s onboard cranes to lift the 140-ton tug onto the St. Johns River. Then, Cross State Towing, a towing services provider, guided the 86-foot-long, 30-foot-tall tug to a private dock in Jacksonville.
The release also states that during the war, the tug is believed to have been used as a multipurpose vessel to conduct rescue missions and carry supplies from England to Normandy, France, following the historic invasion.