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 SSCharles H. Cugle after conversion to nuclear bargeSturgis | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Charles H. Cugle |
| Namesake | Charles Hurst Cugle |
| Builder | J.A. Jones Construction,Panama City, Florida |
| Yard number | 105 |
| Way number | 5 |
| Laid down | 23 June 1945 |
| Launched | 13 August 1945 |
| Completed | 31 August 1945 |
| Decommissioned | 1977 |
| Renamed | Sturgis (MH-1A), 1963 |
| Reclassified | Nuclear Barge |
| Fate | In storage prior to disposal |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class & type | Type Z-EC2-S-C5Liberty ship |
| Displacement | 14,245 long tons (14,474 t)[1] |
| Length | |
| Beam | 57 ft (17 m)[1] |
| Draft | 27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)[1] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)[1] |
| Range | 20,000 nmi (37,000 km; 23,000 mi) |
| Capacity | 10,856 t (10,685 long tons)deadweight (DWT)[1] |
| Crew | 81[1] |
| Armament | Stern-mounted4 in (100 mm)deck gun for use against surfaced submarines, variety ofanti-aircraft guns |
SSCharles H. Cugle was a Type Z-EC2-S-C5Liberty ship built byJ.A. Jones Construction ofPanama City, Florida, launched on 13 August 1945. It was ordered by theWar Shipping Administration underMaritime Commission Contract number 3145.[2]
As part of theArmy Nuclear Power Program the ship was transferred to the U.S. Army in March 1963, and fitted with apressurized water reactor, fuelled by usedlow enricheduranium, designed byMartin Marietta, becoming the world's firstfloating nuclear power plant, at a cost of $17 million.[3]
Now renamedSturgis (MH-1A) the reactor began operation on 24 January 1967 atFort Belvoir, Virginia, generating 10MWe ofelectrical power. The reactor barge was then towed toGatun Lake in thePanama Canal Zone to provide power, owing to a lack of water for thehydroelectric plant. The ship returned to Fort Belvoir in early 1977, and the reactor deactivated and de-fueled. The ship was decontaminated, sealed, and assigned to theJames River Reserve Fleet[3] for an expected 50 years ofSAFSTOR.
However, 38 years later the Army Corps of Engineers deemed there were low enough levels of radioactivity in the mothballed vessel's contaminated areas for it to be scrapped. It was scheduled to be towed from Virginia to Galveston in April–May 2015 where subcontractor Malin International Ship Repair and Drydock will begin the 12- to 18-month work of removing the contaminated material and placing it in rail cars to be hauled to a hazardous materials disposal site, after which the remaining portions of the vessel will be cut up and sold for scrap value.[4]