Tug Ludington
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Tug Ludington (formerly Major Wilbur Fr. Browder) is a World War II–era tugboat built in 1943 at Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay, New York. The U.S. Army designated the tug LT-4. The tug's armament consisted of two 50 caliber machine guns and participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, towing ammunition barges across the English Channel. After World War II, it joined the U.S. Army Transportation Corps until 1947 when the Corps of Engineers transferred the tug to Kewaunee, Wisconsin and then renamed it the Tug Ludington. It was used in the construction and maintenance of many harbors on the Great Lakes and now rests in Harbor Park in Downtown, Kewaunee and is open to visitors for tours. As the Major Wilbur Fr. Browder, the tug is on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.
Although the U.S. Navy had more large ships than the U.S. Army in World War II, the Army had a larger number of total ships, almost twice as many as the Navy, including several thousand harbor craft. Classified as a large tug (LT), the Browder was able to sail to England under its own power.
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