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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

YTL-16
ex
 YT-16 (1942 - 1944)
 Modoc (YT-16) (1920 - 1942)
 Modoc (1898 - 1920)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Bravo - Delta - Sierra
 NBDS
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
World War I Victory Medal - American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Steam Tug:
  • Built by John H. Dialogue & Son, Camden NJ (YN 305)
  • Completed for American Towing Co., Baltimore, MD, as tug Enterprise (ON 136168), December 1890
  • Purchased by the Navy for $30,000, 29 April 1898
  • Placed in service at Philadelphia as Modoc, 1898
  • Spent entire career assigned to Philadelphia Navy Yard
  • Designated District Harbor Tug (YT-16), 17 July 1920
  • Name canceled, 05 October 1942
  • Redesignated as the unnamed District Harbor Tug Small YTL-16, 15 May 1944
  • Placed out of service, 30 January 1947
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Sold to Charles E. Banks Towing, Camden, NJ and renamed Flo, 1947
  • Final disposition, hulk dragged ashore and buried in Cramer Hill neighborhood of Camden, 1972
    Specifications:
    Hull iron
    Displacement 240 tons
    Length 96' 9"
    Beam 20' 10"
    Draft 8' 6"
    Speed 10 knots
    Complement 7
    Armament unknown
    Propulsion
    one compound steam engine (15" 30" x 22")
    one single-end coal fired boiler
    single propeller, 175shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Modoc (Harbor Tug No. 16)
    Modoc
    140801603    		 431k Modoc standing by the wreckage of a Naval Aircraft Factory N-1 seaplane after it crashed in the Delaware River, 17 June 1918. This is probably A-2282, whose history card reads "Phila Pa. - Total Wreck" with a strike date of 15 July 1918.
    Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 43912    		 Dave Wright
    L-1
    0804002    		 731k "CARRIED" EIGHTY-FIVE MILES.
    The United States submarine L-1 (SS-40), rammed last week by a pilot-boat off the Delaware capes, came into the Philadelphia Navy Yard yesterday, supported by the salvage tug USS Kalmia (AT-23) (left) and the navy yard tug Modoc (YT-16). At the right can be seen an ten-inch pump line from the Kalmia which kept the water out of the engine hatch-room of the submersible during the trip from Lowes, Del. A smaller pump line worked from the Modoc.    		 Image provided by: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA.
    Photo from Evening Public Ledger. (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 08 February 1921, NIGHT EXTRA, Image 24, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
    PDF added 12/02/10.
    Modoc (YT-16)
    Modoc
    140801601    		 1037k Modoc (YT-16) moored at Pier 1, Philadelphia Navy Yard, 05 June 1926.
    Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 45946    		 Dave Wright
    Modoc
    140801602    		 204k Modoc (YT-16) guiding the North Star to a berth at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in November 1939. The North Star had just returned from Admiral Byrd's Antarctic Expedition.
    Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, George D. McDowell Collection, Temple University Libraries, photo P562048B (cropped)    		 Dave Wright
    Commercial Service
    Modoc
    140801604    		 363k Flo underway on the Delaware River, circa late 1940s. The Gloucester, NJ, Coast Guard Base is in the right background. Dave Boone
    Modoc
    140801605    		 588k Flo with a tank barge underway on the Delaware River, circa 1950s. Dave Boone
    Modoc
    140801606    		 318k Flo derelict and capsized at Camden, NJ, 23 August 1966. Photo copyright Dave Boone. Dave Boone
    Modoc (YT-16 / YTL-16)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command website
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Yard and District Craft Photo Index Back To The District Harbor Tug (YT) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo and is maintained by David L. Wright
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 14 July 2022