"Herman the German" Floating Crane

[Chukpike]

Long Beach shipyard. The crane, US Navy designation YD-171, was one of three taken after WWII from Germany. Largest floating cranes in the world at that time. Of the three cranes only one survived to be put in service. The Russians disassembled theirs to transport and never could figure out how to put it back together. The British decided to tow theirs across the English channel where it sunk.

The remaining crane was setup in Long Beach Navel shipyard and used until the shipyard closed in 1997. Now belongs to Panama and is used to lift the lock gates out of the water for service.

Photo along side the USS Missouri.

View attachment 624

More pictures are available on line by searching Floating cranes and Herman.

 

[A Can of Man]

The Russians disassembled theirs to transport and never could figure out how to put it back together.

HAHAHHAHAHAH Typical!!!

 

[Chukpike]

Here is a link showing how the crane was transported to Panama.

http://http://www.argonautics.com/Projects/Titan Crane Analysis.htm

The crane could lift 350metric tons or a German Uboat during WWII.
New cranes mainly used for building platform oil rigs, are know capable of lifting 14,000 metric tons. Although the record lift was just over 12,000 metric tons.