Ship Modelers Database
Joffre (tugboat)
Broken up (scrapped) in 1966
Joffre was a British steam tugboat built on the River Clyde/Ardrossan coast and based on the Tyne for most of her working life. She is best remembered today as the subject of the well-known Caldercraft (Jotika) 1:48 scale model kit, making her a popular subject among radio-control ship modelers.
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History
Specifications
The real vessel measured approximately 115 x 26 x 11 ft, was built of steel with screw propulsion, had a gross tonnage of 260, and could reach a maximum speed of 11 knots with an engine rated around 1,140 ihp, which was considered high power for a tug of her day. An unusual feature was that she carried two sets of towing hooks rather than the single hook typical of tugs her size, with the after hook used for towing lighters on the River Tyne.
Service history
Joffre was launched in 1915 and completed by the Ardrossan Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co, entering Admiralty service as a rescue boat before being owned throughout her working career by Lawson-Batey Tugs Ltd of Newcastle on Tyne. In 1925 she ran ashore in heavy fog while sailing from Falmouth to Antwerp, requiring costly repairs, and in 1953 she was further damaged after being run down near South Shields. She saw service through both World Wars, including a documented 1939 operation on the Tyne assisting the torpedoed destroyer HMS Kelly and the mined tanker Atheltemplar, before finally being broken up in 1966.
Notable facts
Her wartime service and distinctive two-hook towing arrangement have been commemorated and are highlighted in kit instructions as scope for a wartime-paint-scheme build. The Caldercraft 1:48 kit (part no. 7000) reproduces her with a GRP hull, CNC-cut superstructure, and over 300 cast white-metal fittings including crew figures and a ship's dog, and can be built static or adapted for RC operation.