Builder - Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Baltimore, MD

Commissioned - by the Fire Department as Engine 39, March 4, 1911

Cost - $115,000

Official Number - 208292

Construction - riveted steel

Length overall - 120 feet

Extreme beam - 28 feet

Depth of hull - 14 feet

Full load draft - 11 feet 6 inches

Tonnage - 185 net, 313 gross

Fuel capacity - .? .tons of coal ( as built )
--------------------..1937 - converted to oil fired,. two tanks with total capacity of 22,050 gallons of fuel oil installed

Maximum speed - 15 m.p.h.

Boilers - two (2) Scotch marine boilers, 11 feet 6 inches long by 150 inches in diameter
-----------.stand-by steam pressure 140-165 psi., working steam pressure 170 psi.

Propulsion - single screw,. (1). one,. 2-cylinder,.vertical,. inverted,. non-condensing steam engine,
-----------------.with cylinders of 20 inch diameter by 20 inch stroke, rated at .1,000 H.P.

Fire pumps - two .(2),.Worthington,.2 stage centrifugal pumps, rated 4,500 g.p.m. each at 150 psi., each driven by
-----------------.a General Electric, Curtis steam turbine. Total capacity of boat - 9,000 g.p.m.

-----------------.1921 - two, (2) LaFrance, 2-cylinder, duplex, double acting piston pumps installed from old land

----------------- apparatus, one of 900 g.p.m., and the second of 700 g.p.m. Total capactiy of boat now - 10,600 g.p.m.

----------------. During the early 1940's, the two LaFrance duplex pumps were removed.

----------------- Total capacity of boat now 9,000 g.p.m. This was the final pump configuration.

Discharge gates - twenty - (6) 3˝” and (2) 3 inch with 2 ˝” inch reducers under the forward monitor platform,
----------------------. and (12) 3 inch with 2˝” reducers under deck house monitor
-----------------------.( The 3˝” discharges were provided with special 3˝” hose to supply the Fire Departments
----------------------------.High Pressure hydrant system downtown, in event of failure of the domestic water supply )

Monitor pipes - four (4), Andrew J. Morse & Son, of Boston - one on forward deck, one on pilot house, one on deck house,
---------------------.and one on 30 foot steel tower, aft

Hose - 1,000 feet of 2 ˝” inch, ..1,000 feet of 3 inch,.. 200 feet of 1˝ inch ( added 1946 )

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..The Fireboat Deluge was built by the Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Locust Point, Baltimore, MD., from the designs of W. I. Babcock, Engineer and Naval Architect, 17 State Street, New York, NY.
..Launched in November of 1910, the boat was placed in service after outfitting, and testing with the newly organized Engine Co. 39 at the Fireboat Station, Pier 7, foot of President Street, at 8 o’clock on the evening of March 4, 1911.

Acceptance test: .March 2, and 4, 1911

..On March 2, 1911, a continuous 6 hour trial of the pumping machinery on the Deluge was conducted at the Fireboat Station, Pier 7, foot of President Street. The test was witnessed by Mayor Mahool, President Parrish, of the Fire Board, Chief Engineer Horton, Mr. W. I. Babcock, of New York, the designer, Mr. H. G. Skinner, President of the plant that built the vessel, Chief McLaughlin, of the Norfolk Fire Department, and a number of municipal officials.
..During the test, the two centrifugal pumps were able to deliver 10,624 g.p.m. with their steam turbines turning at 1,800 revolutions per minute.
..On March 4th the boat went on a trial trip down the bay, during which, with 170 lbs. of steam and the propeller making over 150 revolutions, the engine developed 1,100 H.P. A speed of 15 m.p.h. was maintained, while at the same time, the pumps discharged 5,000 g.p.m., which was regarded as a remarkable performance.
..Everything was so satisfactory that the Board of Fire Commissioners formally accepted the boat at the conclusion of the trip and she went on her station and into regular service that same night.

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Six .hour acceptance pump test of .the Deluge being conducted on March 2,
1911, at the Fireboat Station, foot of President Street. The pumps were able
to deliver 118% of designed capacity at 145 psi.--------------------------------------

Members .of Engine Co. 39 and their Fireboat Deluge standing off of .quarters
at Pier 7, President Street when new. This station would be the home of both
the Deluge, and Cataract for the next six years until the Deluge moved to Fort
McHenry in 1917.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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..

..The Fireboat Deluge has a hull of all steel construction with five bulkheads, three of which are watertight. There is a single deck from end to end, with lower decks forward and aft of the machinery space only, all of which are of steel complete without wood covering. The between decks forward is used for a hose room, with racks capable of holding 2,000 feet of hose, with a hatch through the deck forward of the pilot house fitted with rollers all around for passing the hose on deck. The hold under the hose room, and the after peak, form fresh water tanks for boiler make-up feed. The lower deck aft contains the electric lighting set and lockers for the crew. There is a steel deck house over the boiler room and coal bunker, the forward end of which is fitted up as a nozzle room with stairway to the steel pilot house above. The after end of this deck house is extended over the central hose manifold to make a platform for working a monitor nozzle. A life raft is stowed on top of the deck house. The steering engine in the pilot house is of the Queen City hydraulic type.
..In the engine room are placed two pumping sets, each consists of a General Electric Curtis steam turbine and a Worthington centrifugal pump, all on one bed plate, and one horizontal shaft. Each turbine has its own surface condenser, circulating pump and wet and dry vacuum pumps and all pumps are cross connected so that either or both condensers may be used with either set of pumps. The main fire pumps are so arranged that they may be worked in series to deliver one half capacity at 300 psi.
..The engine room also contains the propelling engine, which is of the vertical, inverted, double cylinder, non-condensing type, with two cranks and having cylinders 20 inch in diameter, by 20 inch stroke, and is of very substantial construction. This engine drives a single four-blade propeller, 8 feet in diameter, which is of cast steel.
..Steam is supplied by two Scotch boilers with allowed pressure, 170 psi., placed abreast of each other next forward of the engine room, with the fire room on forward side and coal bunker next to fire room. The boilers are fitted with a system of heated forced draft, the blower being placed in a recess in the bulkhead at the forward side of the fire room, and is of the Sturtevant type. The vertical feed pumps are of the Blake type and feed water heater was supplied by the Griscom-Spencer Co.
..The electric light plant has a 10-K.W. General Electric standard marine set, with about 80 lamps distributed about the vessel and an 18-inch search light on top of the pilot house.
..The engine room skylight and companionway is of steel complete with a large number of circular lights, which, as well as the pilot house windows, are of wired glass.

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..On May 28, 1917, Engine Co. 39, with their Fireboat, Deluge, moved to new quarters at Fort McHenry, Locust Point. This move had been recommended in an Underwriters Report, as the waterfront to be protected was approximately 15 miles in extent. Locating both boats at one station was unsatisfactory, leaving some portions of the harbor poorly protected.

Fireboat Deluge at her berth, Fort McHenry, Locust Point. This would be the
boat's home from 1917, until she was decommissioned in 1960.-----------------

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Underwriters Report, 1925

..Engine Tests : Tests made of the Fireboat "Deluge" were satisfactory, with the pumps delivering 90% of rated capacity, at satisfactory net water pressure.

Underwriters Report, 1932

..Engine Tests : The pumps on "Deluge" would not deliver their capacities, the starboard pump delivering 3,510 g.p.m. at 151 psi. and the port pump, 3,580 g.p.m. at 158 psi. Together they gave 7,830 g.p.m. at 148 psi., and in series, 3,690 g.p.m. at 269 psi. Steam pressure could not be well maintained with both large pumps running. The small piston pumps use an excessive amount of steam and could not be used to capacity.

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DELUGE CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE