''Three Forty Three'' is a ''Ranger 4200''-class

fireboat A fireboat or Fire-float Pyronaut, fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with ...

that serves the

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for providing Fi ...

as marine company 1. Designed by Robert Allan Ltd. and built to replace the 1954 . It was commissioned at 0900 hours on September 11, 2010, exactly nine years after the 2001 terrorist attacks. It is one of the four New York fireboats currently active in service.

Namesake

The boat's name comes from the number of

FDNY The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for providing Fire Suppression Services, ...

members killed in the line of duty on

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. For days following the terrorist attack the only water available to the area was provided by the FDNY's Marine Units.

Manufacturing

The ''Three Forty Three'' was built by

Eastern Shipbuilding Eastern Shipbuilding Group is a shipbuilder based in Panama City, Florida that operates facilities in the Florida Panhandle in Panama City, Allanton, and Port St. Joe. The company was founded in 1976 as Eastern Marine by Brian R. D’Isernia as a b ...

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Route 98 in Florida, U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida, Pe ...

, and is the largest single purpose fireboat built to date with the highest pumping capacity of any fireboat ever built. A sister vessel named was delivered and placed in service with Marine 9 in November 2010 to replace the 70-year-old , which is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, and represented the city's first major investment in new fireboats in 50 years.FDNY Annual Report 2012
p. 7 Fireboat Three Forty Three in front of Empire State Building

Fireboat Three Forty Three in front of Empire State Building

Features

The , 500-ton, $27 million fast response boat is the country's largest fireboat, with a maximum speed of . The ''Three Forty Three'' incorporates the latest technology available for marine vessels, including the capability of pumping of water per minute, nearly more than its predecessor. It has an operating crew of seven.

References

Service vessels of the United States Fireboats of New York City 2009 ships Ships built in Panama City, Florida {{boat-stub