"TANAC" Ocean Tugs (CT) Built During WWII

There is very little publicly available information about the 265 ocean tugs that were built by Canadian shipyards during WWII and transferred to the British Ministry of War Transport.  They were officially called Canadian Tugs, with the symbol CT, but were universally known as TANACs, a name that is believed to have been intended to be the Canadian equivalent of the TUSA label used for the tugs that were built for Britain in U.S. yards.  They were 60-foot, 55-ton, diesel-powered boats: all but 35 of the 265 were steel-hulled, the ten built by Smith & Rhuland and the 25 built by Industrial Shipping being wooden-hulled.  The first TANAC was delivered in late 1942 and the last in 1946.  Some were returned to Canada after the war and the last few were completed after the war was over and never left Canada, but almost all of them were sold to tug operators worldwide and many are still active.  The one pictured is the Russel-built CT 46 on her sea trials.  Read more about the TANACs on Steve Briggs' web site, here.  If anyone can fill any of the many gaps in this table, please send your information to info@navalmarinearchive.com

Most recent update: 6 March 2015.