Fred Miller wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
While inspecting the progress on my boat yesterday, I noticed a large
vessel being completed in the same shed.

It's about a 50-footer, wooden hull, and appropriately enough it
belongs to the US Forest Service. I was told the yard was contracted to
put a new stem on her, and some other work as well. I've requested a
complete synopsis of the work that was done and some photos of the job
in progress as it might make an interesting story for the magazine.

Got me thinking- How many wooden boats are still in use by any branch
of the federal government? Anybody know of additional examples? I
suspect this 50-year old wooden patrol boat must be pretty unique- and
would have been replaced by a boat of some other material if not for
the association with the Forest Service.

I believe that our navy continues to employ minesweepers with wood hulls and
bronze and stainless steel metallic parts to minimize their magnetic
signature for obvious reasons. See, for example,
http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/02idx.htm

Fred

Interesting. I know that wooden hulls were used for minesweepers for a
very long time. My cousin served aboard a wooden minesweeper when he
joined the navy in the early 60's. John Wayne's yacht. Wild Goose, was
a converted wooden minesweeper. I thought that modern mines, along with
advanced detection and hull technologies would have made the wooden
minesweeper obsolete by now..