Rising Star is a tugboat operated by the United States Air Force to assist cargo vessels supplying Thule Air Base, in northern Greenland.[1][2] The tugboat is only operated during the period of three months or less that the port is ice-free. For the remainder of the year the vessel is pulled up on the beach. Rising Star is the Air Force's only tugboat.[1]
The USAF operates the tugboat Rising Star, at Thule Air Base, during the two to three months a year the port is ice-free.
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Rising Star |
Operator | United States Air Force[1] |
Builder | Swiftships yard, Morgan City, Louisiana[1] |
In service | 1991[1] |
Homeport | Thule, Greenland |
General characteristics | |
Type | Tugboat |
Length | 71 feet (22 m)[1] |
Installed power | 900 shaft horsepower (670 kW)[1] |
Propulsion | 2 two-stroke diesel engines[1] |
Built in 1991 at the Swiftships yard in Morgan City, Louisiana,[1] Rising Star is 71 feet (22 m) long[1] and powered by two two-stroke diesel engines, capable of generating 900 shaft horsepower (670 kW) each.
Some small boats are used by security forces in Florida and some missile retriever boats are used to return target drones at Tyndall AFB," said Tech. Sgt. T. Read Harris, 821st Support Squadron vehicle maintenance representative. "But Thule can claim the only Air Force tugboat.
The Ocean Giant waits in the bay for tanker operations to finish, while the Rising Star, the Air Force's only pusher boat, motors through the bay. The Rising Star helped position cargo ships into and out of Thule's port during Operation Pacer Goose, Thule's annual resupply mission.