 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | MVRoger Blough |
| Owner | Great Lakes Fleet |
| Builder | American Ship Building Company[1] |
| Yard number | 900[1][2] |
| Laid down | September 3, 1968 |
| Launched | June 5, 1972[1] |
| In service | June 15, 1972 |
| Identification |
|
| Notes | Shuttle Boom type Self-Unloading dry bulk carrier |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Lake freighter |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 858 ft (262 m)[1] |
| Beam | 105 ft (32 m)[1] |
| Depth | 39.2 ft (11.9 m)[1] |
| Propulsion | 2 xSEMT Pielstick, 16PC2V-400 four stroke, single acting V-16, 7,100 bhp (5,300 kW) each |
MVRoger Blough is a ship built in 1972 byAmerican Ship Building Company inLorain, Ohio. She serves as alake freighter on theGreat Lakes. The ship is owned byGreat Lakes Fleet, Inc. and is named for the former chairman ofU.S. Steel,Roger Blough.
The ship'slaunch was originally planned for July 1971.[3][4] However, on June 24, 1971, the ship suffered a major engine room fire which killed four and caused serious damage.Sea trials and delivery were delayed by a year to June 1972.[5]
TheRoger Blough assisted in the search forSS Edmund Fitzgerald. On November 11, 1975, the morning after the sinking, the crew of theRoger Blough recovered a 25-person life raft from theEdmund Fitzgerald.[6]
She was stuck in the ice inLake Erie nearConneaut, Ohio for eight days in February 1979[7] and then was laid up from 1981 to 1987 due to the economy and the capacity of the newer 1,000 feet (300 m) lake freighters.[8][3]
On May 27, 2016, while under operation of theKeystone Shipping Company, theRoger Blough ran aground on Gros Cap Reef inWhitefish Bay,Lake Superior with some minor flooding reported.[9] She remained aground on May 29, 2016 nearGros Cap Reefs Light with theUnited States Coast Guard vesselUSCGC Mobile Bay on station monitoring the situation and enforcing a 500-yard (460 m) safety zone around the vessel.[10] At 5:45 AM on June 3, theRoger Blough began offloading some of itstaconite cargo to the SSPhilip R. Clarke to lift the ship off the reef.[11] The vessel was refloated off the reef at 10:45 AM, June 4, and anchored at Waiska Bay for further evaluation or repairs.[12] Lightering operations were completed at Waiska Bay on June 7, 2016 with the SSPhilip R. Clarke and theSS Arthur M. Anderson receiving the remainder of the taconite cargo.[13] Starting off on June 11, 2016, theRoger Blough was escorted by the tugCandace Elise toBay Shipbuilding,Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for repairs.[14]
On February 1, 2021 the vessel was again engulfed in flame from an engine fire while docked atBay Shipbuilding[15]No casualties were reported as the ship was empty and in winter layup when the fire started.
According to theNational Transportation Safety Board's August 17, 2022, incident report[16] "the probable cause of the engine room fire aboard the bulk carrierRoger Blough was likely the repeated removal and reinstallation of the furnace’s burner that led to the failure of its mounting coupling, resulting in the operating burner dropping to the bottom of its enclosure and fracturing its fuel supply line, which allowed diesel fuel to ignite. Contributing to the casualty was the absence of a fire-activated automatic fuel oil shutoff valve on the fuel oil inlet piping before the burner, which would have stopped the fuel feeding the fire shortly after it started and limited the spread of the fire."
The ship’s future is very unclear (as of November 2021), however there are possible indications, including visible repair efforts to the vessel’s aft section, that the ship is salvageable and the funds needed for repair work ($20 million) are available, barring no additional complications.[citation needed] The NTSB report puts the amount of damage at more than $100 million.
On October 27, 2022, the MVRoger Blough departed Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay under tow, destined for Conneaut, OH, for long term layup. As of August 18, 2024, the ship was docked in Conneaut, OH.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 2016 | |
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