Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Mn bob wrote: October 10, 2026, 8:41 am What was the reason the Speer was built at Lorain instead of bayship at sturgeon bay like the gott?

Bay Shipbuilding had a full order book with the four thousand footers (Walter J. McCarthy, American Integrity, Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor) that were ordered in February 1974 along with the Edwin H. Gott ordered in 1976. While American Shipbuilding (AmShip) didn't have any orders after the American Spirit, so US Steel placing an order with AmShip made sense.

U.S. Steel wanted both ships available in the 1978-79 time-frame, as they were planning in 1976-78 the construction of a new steel mill just east of Conneaut, Ohio which would have become the Speer Works.

William J. Delancey (now Paul R. Tregurtha) was ordered by Interlake Steamship in March 1978, while the American Century (Columbia Star) was ordered in early 1979.

What was the reason the Speer was built at Lorain instead of bayship at sturgeon bay like the gott?

The Edwin H. Gott and Edgar B. Speer use the exact same hull form as the Walter J. McCarthy, Jr., American Century, American Integrity, Burns Harbor and the Indiana Harbor. I have the hull plans for the Bay Shipbuilding thousand footers.

Where they differ is the use of more T-1A steel in the waterline and shoulder area of the bow. With additional stiffening at the stern where the two rudders are attached. The hull shapes are the same across all the BayShip thousand footers.

Internally the Edwin H. Gott and Edgar B. Speer differ significantly from the other five vessels I listed previously, in that they have large, square shaped ballast tanks with narrower cargo holds (versus the sloped cargo holds of traditional self-unloaders). That is the reason for their smaller hatch covers.

When the Edwin H. Gott sailed in mid-February 1979, she entered service during the worst of the Winter of 1978/79. She suffered a lost rudder on the trip up the St. Marys river, with the other damaged. There was damage to one of the ballast tanks when the water level was adjusted. Then up on Lake Superior, the bow plating was damaged, despite the T-1A steel. But all the ships in the convoy (John G. Munson, Cason J. Callaway and Philip R. Clarke) suffered damage to their bow plating, who all had T-1A steel, while the Munson suffered steering-engine damage.

One of the key design requirements when US Steel had the Edwin H. Gott and Edgar B. Speer built was the intention of year-round navigation on the lakes. As such, they received engines with considerably higher horsepower ratings versus the other thousand footers built. While these two ships, one of which was built by American Ship Building at Lorain, Ohio, appear very similar in appearance to the thousand footers built by Bay Shipbuilding during the 1970s to early 1980s, how similar are their actual hull forms in comparison to the other footers built by that yard? It would seem that at the very least they were given additional structural strengthening and heavier hull plates in certain areas, but did they also receive any unique hull form shapes to facilitate operating in winter navigation conditions?

I recall the problems the Gott had on its maiden voyage in the winter of 1979 and how it required significant repairs that prevented it from returning to service until April of that year.