STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – After about a year away from its homeport of Sturgeon Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay is back in Door County.
The 140-foot long icebreaking tug was getting an upgrade from top to bottom.
“We brought the cutter to Baltimore, Maryland in the summer of 2018. And we returned this past summer, to bring her back home,” said Lt. Cmdr. Steven Kingsley, U.S. Coast Guard.
Kingsley serves as captain of the Mobile Bay.
He says the ship was gutted from bow to stern and then rebuilt. Kingsley tells FOX 11 the ship’s bridge features a new navigational system. The electronic charting table faces forward, and the steering console is redesigned.
“We’re usually navigating in confined areas, alongside large vessels, so you want to have the best steering system you possibly can in those conditions.”
Just outside, part of the deck is now wider to accommodate the small-boat launch system.
Below deck, there are more bunks for the 28 crew members to sleep, and the engineering control center is rewired too.
“New cameras for remote monitoring. So with a smaller crew, we don’t get into every space, all the time. We’re able to monitor spaces pretty frequently, just by looking up at a screen, instead of sending people down to spaces,” said Chief Warrant Officer Brent Fike, U.S. Coast Guard.
And down in the engine room, a motorized pump system, once stored on deck, now operates below, away from the elements.
Fike tells FOX 11 after 40 years, the Mobile Bay needed the improvements.
“It was just time for an upgrade. Time for making it much more comfortable than it was in the past.”
The U.S. Coast Guard hopes the improvements will add another 15 years of service to the Mobile Bay.
The captain says, with winter approaching, the ice breaker could be put to use in the coming weeks.
