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PADDLE TUGS
Paddle tugs were built in enormous numbers for hauling barges, especially along major continental rivers, or for harbour work, manoevring larger sea-going vessels into position. Navies also built their own tugs for military work. Some harbour tugs also acted as tenders and had some capacity for passengers for short transfers from shore to larger vessels which moored away from any quayside. Some of these vessels were used to provide short passenger excursions when suitable.

This page reviews paddle tugs which are believed to be operational or in preservation 


OPERATIONAL PADDLE TUGS  : (Last review - 2013)


It appears that there may be a number of paddle tugs, most probably motor-powered sidewheelers, still in operation in Russia, the Ukraine and parts of the former Soviet Union. 

Motor paddle tugs from the Soviet Project 1721/1721L series - built between 1973 and 1985 :  
Internet Link for more details and photos :
http://www.riverfleet.ru/fleet/list.php?SECTION_ID=3156

Project 1721 : Built at Pervomaiskiy Shipyard, Kazakhstan for use on the upper Irtysh River.  51.5 m x 17.3 m x 2.3 m

BTK 616
BTK 620
BTK 622
BTK 630
BTK 632
BTK 634
BTK 636

Project 1721L : Built at Zhataysky Shipyard, Zhatay, Russia for use on the River Lena, Siberia.  43.2 m x 16.9 m x 2.3 m

BTK 601 - now called "Mechanic Korzennikov"
BTK 602
BTK 603
BTK 605
BTK 608
BTK 609
BTK 610


BTK-623   (built 1982) owned by Trans-Fleet Lt, registered at Tyumen, Russia in 2008 :    http://fleetphoto.ru/ship/4956/

Internet photograph websites also show these vessels (in 2013)

BTK-629 seen at Pavlodar, Kazakhstan : 
BTK-631 appears to be in service at Omsk, Russia :
Bolat Karentaev appears to be in service in Kazakhstan :

Other vessel types :

BTK-20
appears to be in operation at Pechora, Russia : see photo http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5107/vladimi-shulae.5/0_52e95_7b7090ce_orig


FOMER TUGS RECONSTRUCTED FOR PASSENGER SERVICE - NOW IN OPERATION OR UNDER RENOVATION


Former steam tugs on the Danube 

Republica (steam)  Understood not to be in service on account of boiler problems but in use as a restaurant with attached museum on the Tulcea city waterfront

Radetzky, ex-Plovdiv (reengined)

Early motor tug (1911) operating in Poland, rebuilt for passenger service

Lubecki


Former tug being reconstructed for passenger service in Russia :

Bistryi
Bystryi was built in 1955 in Kiev at the Lenin Shipyard and was the last of her type on the Volga when it was mooted in 1996 to preserve her for the Polytechnic museum. This never happened and she was laid up at Volgoreschensk. However she was bought by a company based in Yaroslavl in 2006 and after refurbishment was planned to be moved there for tourist purposes as a passenger steamer. Current status unknown.
See more on the Reactivation Projects page


STEAM TUGS AS MUSEUM EXHIBITS



Above : Ersekcsanad (ex-Ruthof) at Regensburg on August 2nd, 2017


Eppleton Hall  : In San Francisco, USA 

Oscar Huber  : In Duisburg, Germany

WurttembergIn Magdeburg, Germany

ErsekcsanadIn Regensburg, Germany

NeszmelyIn Neszmely, Hungary

Zoltan In Neszmely, Hungary


Unknown In Astrakhan, Russia

http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/astrakhanfoto/album/169934/

Is this ship the former "Pamyat Smelova" ? 


STEAM PADDLE TUGS LAID-UP OR UNDER RENOVATION


John H Amos : In Chatham, England 

Decebal : In Braila, Romania

Zupa : In Belgrade, Serbia 

Srbija : In Belgrade, Serbia

Vojvodina : In Serbia


Possible surviving tugs of the Soviet Project 732 (or smaller 733) series


A large number of project 732 tugs were built in Hungary from 1947 until 1957 primarily for the USSR market although examples went to Bulgaria, Romania and the final example remained in Hungary
Built in Obudai Shipyard, Budapest : Length 57.9 m, Breadth 7.6/17.5 m


A list of these is included in the Hungarian Ship Register :
http://www.hajoregiszter.hu/index.php?cnl=1022&gc=B/I.

Known survivors of the 732 project :

Plovdiv,
now rebuilt and in use as as passenger ship "Radetsky" in Bulgaria, profiled in the Operational Paddle Ships section

OPERATIONAL :

Schorch,
possibly still in working order at Pechora, Russia.   
Photo at http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/4511/vladimi-shulae.3/0_50747_89ecacd4_orig

MUSEUM :

Bakony,
now preserved by the Zoltan Foundation in Hungary as "Neszmely" and profiled in the museum section on this page above.

DERELICT or PART-SUNKEN :

General Cherniakovskiy : 1953  
This tug appears sunken and derelict at Ivankivs'kiy, in the Kiev Oblast, Ukraine :
Entry in the Hungarian Ship Register site : http://www.hajoregiszter.hu/index.php?ship=2383&friss=1&picid=12972#12972

7. Noviembrie : 1954
Romanian-owned example now sunken on the Danube near Orsova :
Entry in the Hungarian Ship Register site : http://www.hajoregiszter.hu/index.php?ship=2817&gyl=1#menusor


SIDE WHEEL MOTOR PADDLE TUGS IN STATIC PRESERVATION


Stary Dunaj     In Rusovce, Slovakia



Above : Motor Paddle Tug : Stary Dunaj.   Photo kindly supplied by Zsolt Szabo

.


PT Admiral     In Rusovce, Slovakia



 Above and Below : Motor Paddle Tug : Admiral.  Photo kindly supplied by Zsolt Szabo


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