THE MIGHTY MACK--

The US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw as she looked during her 62 year work life (upper) and as she now appears as a nautical museum in her permanent home port, Mackinaw, MI.

She was built in Toledo, OH and launched in March 1944, at the time the most powerful icebreaker in the world.  Her construction was part of the war effort during WW II to help meet the heavy demands for movement of war materials during the winter months. 

She was known as the "Queen of the Great Lakes" during her working life.  Her construction, partially funded by commercial, shipping interests, included a beam (width) of 74 feet, wider than the pre-1959 Welland Canal, thus preventing the coast guard from ever assigning her elsewhere.

Fully loaded she displaced (weighed) 5,252 tons, was 290 feet long and drew over 19 feet of water (measured from the waterline along her hull down to her keel.).

She had six, 10 cylinder engines that produced 12,000 shaft horsepower.

One of her design features was a 12' protected propeller at her bow which could suck water from under the ice ahead, thus weakening the ice and sending water flowing along her hull, reducing friction.  

With thin ice she would simply crush it with her raw power.  As ice thickened she could ride up on it and smash through it with her weight.  She also could quickly roll 112,000 gallons of ballast water from side to side helping her to wiggle out of a jam.

She could break 2 1/2 feet of ice continuously and 11 feet by backing and ramming.

General navigation on the lakes was usually closed to shipping for about 4 1/2 months during winter.  She was able to extend the shipping season 1 1/2 months, critical to the war effort and later helpful to sea going ships in danger of being frozen in Great Lakes ports.

She was retired in June 2006 and on that same day in Cheboygan, MI the "new" Mackinaw WLBB-30 (below) was commissioned.

She's 50 feet shorter and 1,700 tons lighter than the Big Mack.

Hope she is adequate to continue the tradition.

Original Mack photo by BM1 Mark A. Faught, late 1990s