''Rising Star'' is a tugboat operated by the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
to assist
cargo vessels supplying
Thule Air Base
Thule Air Base (pronounced or , kl, Qaanaaq Mitarfik, da, Thule Lufthavn), or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Space Force's northernmost base, and the northernmost installation of the U.S. Armed Forces, located north ...
, in northern Greenland.
[ 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.][
Built in 1991 at the Swiftships yard in Morgan City, Louisiana,][ ''Rising Star'' is long][ and powered by two ]two-stroke
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s, capable of generating each.
References
External links
*{{commons category-inline, Rising Star (ship, 1991)
1991 ships
Ships of the United States Air Force