Fire Fighter (fireboat)
Fireboat Fire Fighter
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| History | |
|---|---|
| New York City Fire Department | |
| Name: | Fire Fighter |
| Operator: | New York City Fire Department |
| Builder: | United Shipyards |
| Laid down: | 1937 |
| Launched: | August 26, 1938 |
| Christened: | August 26, 1938 |
| Commissioned: | November 16, 1938 |
| Decommissioned: | July 17, 2010 |
| Homeport: | NY |
| Nickname(s): | The Fighter |
| Honors and awards: |
1974 Merchant Marine Gallant Ship Citation |
| Fate: | Museum Ship |
| Status: | Operational |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 220.44 net |
| Length: | 134 ft (41 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Height: | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draught: | 9.24 ft (2.82 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Installed power: | Twin 1500 hp, 16-cylinder, 3968 CID General Motors Winton diesel engines |
| Propulsion: | Twin Westinghouse 1000 hp Electric Propulsion Motors |
| Speed: | 14 Knots |
| Crew: | 7-11 |
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Fire Fighter (fireboat)
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| Built | 1938 |
| Architect | William Francis Gibbs |
| NRHP Reference # | 89001447 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 30, 1989 |
| Designated NHL | June 30, 1989 |
| Merchant Marine Gallant Ship Citation | |
| Awarded by United States Maritime Administration | |
| Awarded for | Actions on May 30th, 1973 following the collision of the SS Esso Brussels and SS Sea Witch and the rescue of 31 trapped crew from life-threatening fire aboard the SS Sea Witch. |
 Merchant Marine Gallant Ship Citation Ribbon |
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Fire Fighter is a fireboat which served the New York City Fire Department from 1938 through 2010, serving with Marine Companies 1, 8 & 9 during her career. The most powerful diesel-electric fireboat in terms of pumping capacity when built in 1938, the Fire Fighter fought more than 50 major fires during her career, including fires aboard the SS Normandie in 1942, the 1973 collision of the Esso Brussels and SS Sea Witch and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Authorized for construction in early 1937 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia based on designs submitted by noted naval architect William Francis Gibbs and his firm Gibbs & Cox, the Fire Fighter was laid down at United Shipyards as Hull #856 and was christened and launched on August 28, 1938 by Miss Eleanor Grace Flanagan. After fitting out and sea trials, the Fire Fighter officially entered service with the New York City Fire Department on at 0900hrs on November 16, 1938 with Engine 57 at Pier 1 in the Battery, which would later be organized as Marine Unit 1. Serving from this post through the mid-1960s, Fire Fighter would respond to two of her most famous actions; the fire and capsizing of the SS Normandie in 1942 and the fire aboard the ammunition-laden SS El Estero in 1943, among dozens of other vessel and pier fires across New York Harbor.
Shifting with the majority of commercial steamship line freight operations from Manhattan to the Brooklyn waterfront, Fire Fighter served with Marine Unit 8 and Engine 223 at the 37th Street Pier through 1967 before shifting once again to the Homeport Pier in Stapleton where she joined Marine Unit 9, an assignment which made her the first-due marine firefighting asset at the heavily trafficked Narrows of lower New York Harbor and throughout the tight confines of both the Arthur Kill and Kill van Kull. With both waterways already heavily utilized by marine traffic calling ports on the Chemical Coast, the rise of both the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal and Howland Hook Marine Terminal saw an increasing number of container ships transiting the same waters. These conditions led to several major vessel collisions and shoreside fires during her tenure in Staten Island, but the 1973 collision of SS Esso Brussels and SS Sea Witch would prove to be the largest fires she would ever fight single-handedly. For her and her crews' part in the response, firefighting and rescue of 31 surviving crewmen from the burning SS Sea Witch, the Fire Fighter was named a Gallant Ship and her crew received the American Merchant Marine Seamanship Trophy. To date, Fire Fighter remains the only fireboat to have received this award.
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