The Modern Wooden Navy

The United States Navy has been building wooden ships since 1794. Although the public is quite familiar with the giant aircraft carriers and cruisers made of steel, it sometimes comes as quite a surprise that the USN continues to build wooden ships for some very unique missions.

Since most vessels these days are made of steel, there remains the constant threat of an enemy laying mines in shipping lanes and harbors…and nothing is better for detecting these mines than a wooden-hulled ship (wooden hulls don’t trigger the mines). For example, there have been 14 newly designed 224’ wooden-hulled countermeasure ships built since 1984…and 20 of the 108’ YPs are currently in use at Annapolis.

It is interesting to note that there wasn’t enough known about constructing vessels of this size in fiberglass (the most common pleasure boat building material) and this material was not seriously considered by the USN.

Another vital mission of these wooden ships is in training the future leaders of the USN. You can’t turn a bunch of 19 year olds loose on a 567’ Aegis guided missile cruiser…so you build a small ship that has similar systems as the larger vessels. Annapolis midshipmen continue to train on wooden-hulled Yard Patrol (YP) vessels today…as they have for decades.

Given the rich maritime heritage of the Chesapeake, it is common knowledge that maintaining/restoring a wooden pleasure vessel can be prohibitively expensive. This is primarily due to wooden boats being essentially floating pieces of custom furniture that float in salt water.

Conversely, a wooden hulled USN vessel that has a 50-year service life is built to a vastly different set of standards. The $3M delivery price in 1972 attests to this contrast


YP 672 Construction Details

Here are some additional details to help illustrate the unique features of this vessel:

• YP 672 was built to a Navy specification in 1972 and delivered under contract for about $3M.
• The hull is double planked 1.5" Alaskan cedar (3" total) on laminated oak frames with 1' spacing. The entire hull is glued together with resorcinol glue and bedded with 3M 5200 bedding compound. The planks are screwed in from the inside, with 408 new silicon bronze butt block bolts.
• All new and replacement wood used in the vessel is treated Navy-spec lumber.
• The superstructure is entirely aluminum. (pilothouse and cabin above the deck). Wooden hulls can last for decades in salt water…it is the fresh water rain on the cabin that starts the rot issues…on the wooden-hulled Navy vessels, this is all aluminum…thus eliminating a significant maintenance task.
• The vessel has been entirely rewired
• There are 4 watertight bulkheads that create 5 watertight compartments. Unlike a pleasure vessel, YP 672 can withstand the flooding of any one of these areas…and continue floating.
• In addition to all the required coast guard safety equipment, there are 2 Kiddie-Fenwal Auto/Man Carbon Monoxide fire extinguishers in the engine room. This is a commercial grade fire suppression system.
• There are 3 fire hose stations with an engine driven PTO fire/bilge pump with a manifold system to pump out each compartment
• 5 Rule 3500 gph (24 VDC) bilge pumps with auto switches.
• The entire waterline of the hull is plated with Navy spec copper. This is so the YP can break through thin ice without damage to the wooden hull.
• Maintenance has been accomplished at noted yards, such as Rybovich.
• There are complete logs of all maintenance to date
• The survey shows everything in working order with no material defects
• The bow, for example, has a 4"x10" horn post, 3" of cedar hull, a 1/2"x5" bronze plate from just above the waterline to the keel, then 3 layers of 3/8" steel plate. It is interesting to note that with the insurance carrier, the issue is not a worry about the vessel sustaining any damage…but that 50 tons of Navy ship with nearly 15 inches of oak, bronze and laminated steel in the bow is operated by knowledgeable owners without causing damage to docks, etc.