This was the final ship movement of the 2025 shipping season, Lee A Tregurtha the last vessel to arrive for winter layup at Fraser Shipyards, and she did it with style- sneaking through the tight space between fleetmates Mesabi Miner, Hon James L Oberstar, and the old Connor’s Point road which sticks out into the narrow bay. It also became an impromptu ship watcher’s gathering, I think the only person I know in the community who wasn’t there was Mike, so it was a fun time! I’ve heard through the grapevine, Lee A Tregurtha and Oberstar are both getting some new cargohold plating this winter, so it’ll be a busy off season for the maintenance crews on those two ships.
Lee A Tregurtha was built in 1942 as the oiler USS Chiwawa for WW2, an armed and armored oil tanker designed to escort and refuel the main battle fleets while able to provide fire support with a 130mm cannon (same model that were the primary guns on destroyers of the day) and a full suite of various anti-aircraft guns. Measuring 501ft long, she was at the time one of the largest tankers in the world, just 14ft smaller than the largest, and the lead ship of her class. The ship was heavily involved in some of the largest and most famous campaigns of the war. Setting sail with a crew of 213, her maiden voyage was in a convoy to deliver fuel to the European front. The convoy was ambushed by a U-Boat patrol in the Altantic, nearly ending her career before it started, four ships in the fleet being sunk and the rest engaging the U-Boats before an airplane patrol scared the subs off. She would spend the next two years on Trans-Atlantic runs to Europe and African forces. In 1944 she escorted and provided fire support for an invasion fleet into southern France, a smaller secondary force while the focus was on the main D-Day invasion fleet further north.
Following D-Day she was refitted and shifted to the Pacific, shuttling fuel from Pearl Harbor to various fleets and ground forces in the western Pacific, participating in the battles of Ulithi and Okinawa, surviving several attempted kamikaze strikes, all of which missed. One of her fleet refuel missions saw her in Tokyo Harbor during the Japanese surrender ceremony. She received various awards including two battle stars, which are still displayed on her bridge.
Post war, she helped with troop convoys and occupation forces for 6 months until she was recalled to the States for decommissioning and laid up in the reserve fleet with a grim future, the Navy having more ships than they could ever hope to operate in peacetime. She sat awaiting the scrapyards for 15 years until 1961, when she caught the eye of the Cleveland Cliffs steel company. Sailed into the Lakes, she was cut apart and gutted, her oil tanks and armament removed, replaced by iron ore holds. Her pilothouse was moved from mid-ship to the bow, and a 229ft mid section (ironically built in Germany) was added to lengthen her to 730ft. Renamed Walter J Sterling, she took the Queen of the Lakes title which she shared alongside the Edward L Ryerson and eventually several Canadian ships until 1972. In 1976 she was lengthened again to her current size of 824ft and converted to a self unloader. In 1985 she was sold to Ford to replace the iconic AAA steamer William Clay Ford, taking her name and routes. Just four years later, Ford abandoned their maritime venture and put their fleet up for scrap sale. Fate intervened however, Interlake Steamship scooped up the vessel, naming her Lee Ann Tregurtha, one of the first lakers to be named for a woman. In 2006 her aging steam turbines were replaced by modern scrubber equipped diesels. 2022-2023 saw major work done, refitting her interior and replacing her bottom hull plating. In 2023 the Joseph H Thomson was retired, leaving her the very last active US naval warship from WW2 outside of a museum, and will likely remain so for the rest of her career unless the currently decrepit McKee Sons somehow returns.
Hope her crew enjoys the off season, and that her maintenance work goes smooth, and we see her sail out in March or April!
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