Thanks again shipmates; I'll include this in the curent upload, which reminds me:
BTW............ DG Moody ?
Ah BH, its a slight change, after the requests recently to use drawings, I decided to use my 'real' name as the artist, and:
but they were not steamers. they had state of the art diesel electric
Thanks mate, a slip of the keyboard, as I'd already included that information; I thought some more info might be of interest:
"The "Directors" had EXCEPTIONAL handling characteristics because (like all independant paddlewheel driven tugs) their turning moment was clearly on their paddle shaft axis rather some fuzzy point determined by a rudder. Their twin Paxman-powered diesel electric systems
coupled to very wide paddle floats (overall beam almost 60') made them extremely powerful...with a respectable bollard pull of 10... but with a difference...the paddles being alongside the hulls reduced the stalling effect of a propeller wash close to a large hull. Combine this with the centre of effort being AHEAD of the tow hook pivot point
(unlike a propeller which would be ASTERN of the hook) and you reduce the very dangerous possibility of being capsized by your tow. (the nautical term for this disasterous tug conditon completely escapes me at the moment). This made them eminently suitable as berthing tugs
for the Royal Navy's huge Aircraft carriers and the tugs were stationed in major Royal Navy Ports. "Faithful" and "Favourite" in Devonport, "Forceful", "Grinder" and "Griper" in Portsmouth with "Dexterous" and "Director" stationed for much of their service lives in Gibraltar and Malta respectively. The tugs had folding masts which would allow them to slip close under the overhangs of the aircraft Carriers during berthing "pushes". The remarkable "Tractor"
type tugs which replaced the "Directors" were apparently a propeller development of them. (thrust from AHEAD of the towing pivot point)
The 7 'Directors" had a very short service life of barely 20 years and were destroyed either by torches or missiles (shamefully as target practice!) during the early 80's. Ray Brigden of Model Boats Magazine visited the last survivor "Forceful" in 1980 and found her still to be
in excellent mechanical and physical condition. Surface missiles apparently fired at her on Aberforth Range in 1980 made pretty short work of this beautiful ship..and actually the pinnacle of Paddle Tug technology! A romantic notion of "Forceful's" fate has her
mysteriously disappearing on her way to Hartlepool for restoration as a museum! George Peat of Scotland has just sent me photos he took aboard "Director" prior to her being scrapped in Spain in 1980. "