Steam Trawler (Generic)

Type

Trawler

Period

20th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: This record represents a generic early-20th-century American steam trawler, a type of small coal- or oil-fired fishing vessel rather than a single named ship. Steam trawlers of this kind were common along the New England coast and were built to drag a wide-mouth otter trawl net along the sea bottom to catch groundfish. Specifications: Typical steam trawlers of this era ran roughly 100-145 feet in length with a beam of about 20-24 feet, displacing on the order of 200-500 gross tons, and were powered by a single coal- or oil-fired triple-expansion steam engine driving one screw at speeds of around 9-11 knots. As reference points, USS Comber had a tonnage of 303 gross register tons, a length of 143 ft, beam of 22 ft 6 in, 600 indicated horsepower, and a speed of 11 knots, while the smaller USS Surf ran 129 ft 6 in with a top speed of 9.5 knots. As unarmed fishing craft, trawlers carried no weapons, but once requisitioned for naval service they were typically fitted with one or two small deck guns such as 3-pounders or 6-pounders for patrol and minesweeping duty. Service History: In peacetime these vessels dragged trawl nets over offshore fishing grounds to supply the commercial fish trade, but in wartime many were requisitioned by naval authorities and refitted as minesweepers and harbor patrol boats. The pictured USS Comber (SP-344) illustrates this pattern closely: built in 1916 as a commercial fishing trawler, she was chartered by the U.S. Navy in 1917 and fitted out as a minesweeper, carrying out minesweeping operations along the coast of New England, carrying supplies, and patrolling in the Newport, Rhode Island area before being returned to her owners in 1919. Between 1914 and 1918, hundreds of trawlers built in shipyards were almost all taken up by navies and used as minesweepers, submarine spotters, and coastal patrol boats. Notable Facts: The conversion of humble fishing trawlers into naval auxiliaries was a practical wartime improvisation rather than a purpose-built warship design — their sturdy hulls, built to withstand rough offshore fishing conditions, made them well suited to towing minesweeping gear. For a modeler, this generic type is a good stand-in for any of the many similarly built, unglamorous but historically significant American trawlers converted for World War I or World War II coastal defense service, such as USS Comber, USS Surf, USS Crest, or USS Amagansett. Image Note: The image on file is a historical U.S. Navy photograph of USS Comber (SP-344), a former commercial steam trawler requisitioned as a minesweeper in 1917, used here as a representative example of the generic type since no single ship defines this record.