C-Tractor is a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of fourteen tractor tugs built by

North American Shipbuilding Company Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), which started as Edison Chouest Boat Rentals in 1960, is a family of companies in the marine transportation business based in Cut Off, Louisiana. ECO owns and operates a fleet of platform supply vessels, Subsea Con ...

between 1989 and 1993 for

Alpha Marine Services Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ox' ...

, a subsidiary of

Edison Chouest Offshore Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), which started as Edison Chouest Boat Rentals in 1960, is a family of companies in the marine transportation business based in Cut Off, Louisiana. ECO owns and operates a fleet of platform supply vessels, Subsea Co ...

. The lead ship of the class was ''William M '', also known as ''C-Tractor 1'' C-Tractors measure . They are propelled by

Z-drive A Z-drive is a type of marine propulsion unit. Specifically, it is an azimuth thruster. The pod can rotate 360 degrees allowing for rapid changes in thrust direction and thus vessel direction. This eliminates the need for a conventional rudder. ...

pods, powered by twin EMD 16-645 engines rated at . The tugs mount fore and aft fire-fighting monitors, capable of pumping a total of . In 2005, ''C-Tractor 1'' was sold to Bay-Houston Towing Company and based in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

. Her sister ships continue to be owned by Alpha Marine; six – ''C-Tractor 2'', ''C-Tractor 3'', ''C-Tractor 4'', ''C-Tractor 5'', ''C-Tractor 12'', ''C-Tractor 13'' – were at one point chartered to the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

''C-Tractor 1''

''C-Tractor 1'' (''William M'') was built in 1989. In 2005 it was sold to Bay-Houston Towing Company and based in

References

– Commissioning – Present {{cbignore, bot=medic Tugboats of the United States 1989 ships Auxiliary tugboat classes