In 1990, USS Great Lakes Fleet repainted all of their vessels for company uniformity. The gray stripe represents the Bradley fleet that carried limestone. The black goes along with stack markings and red represents the former Pittsburgh fleet, which carried iron ore. M/V Edwin H. Gott is shown with its new self-unloading boom on its first ever visit to Taconite Harbor on July 8, 1996.

M/V Edwin H. Gott, owned by USS Great Lakes Fleet, is one of 13 1,000-foot vessels sailing the Great Lakes. It was the eighth supercarrier to enter service during a 10-year building program from 1971 to 1981.

The Gott is a product of Bay Shipbuilding Corporation of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on northern Lake Michigan and was launched on July 19, 1978. Its maiden voyage was memorable for being the earliest (or latest, depending on perspective) maiden voyage in lakes' history. Leaving Sturgeon Bay bound for Two Harbors, Minnesota, on February 16, 1979, the Gott encountered heavy ice that damaged a side tank and a rudder. It sat in Two Harbors for repairs until April 21, 1979, when 59,375 tons of taconite were loaded for Gary, Indiana, on lower Lake Michigan.

From 1979 to 1995, Edwin H. Gott exclusively carried taconite loaded in Duluth, Silver Bay and Two Harbors. Two Harbors was its main loading port. Gary became the principal destination because the original self-unloader was built with a short "shuttle" boom, rather than a traditional, long tubular boom. The shuttle boom could move only 52 feet laterally over the side to discharge taconite into a hopper positioned close to dockside. Gary is one port with this feature, along with Conneaut, Ohio, on southern Lake Erie, which became a secondary unloading port for the Gott.

Another port used a few times in the '90s was Nanticoke, Ontario, on northern Lake Erie, where unloading required a transfer to another vessel. Edwin H. Gott would unload the cargo into a smaller Canadian self-unloader able to reach the unloading hopper.

At the end of the 1995 shipping season, the Gott returned to the builder's yard for lay-up and to be refitted with a new self-unloading boom. The shuttle boom was replaced with a traditional long tubular boom. This conversion meant that other cargoes could be carried and other ports served. The conversion is significant not only because the Gott is now a more versatile and efficient carrier, but the new boom is the longest in lakes' shipping. At 280 feet, it is 15 to 30 feet longer than other lakers' booms.

Since the conversion, the Gott has remained in taconite trades, but has visited a few new ports - including Taconite Harbor, Minnesota; Indiana Harbor, Indiana; and Lorain, Ohio. Gary is still the ship's main unloading destination.

The commissioning of the Gott and its 1,000-foot near-sister, M/V Edgar B. Speer, built in 1980 at Lorain, changed the character of USS Great Lakes Fleet. Before the Gott and Speer, USS Great Lakes Fleet had a large flotilla of smaller, traditional straight-decked lakers supplying their steel mills. Together, the Gott and Speer represent more than 120,000 tons of capacity per trip. This meant retirement of many of the fleet's smaller lakers. During the 1980s, these older lakers were moved one-by-one to scrap yards. Other Great Lakes fleets followed the same trend. Edwin H. Gott, on the other hand, should ply the lakes well into the next century.

The cutaway view shows how a self-unloading lake carrier moves cargo from holds on the ship to shore via a conveyor belt and boom assembly. The arc of the boom allows the vessel to be largely self-sufficient, placing the cargo practically anywhere within its reach at the dock facility. COURTESY USS GREAT LAKES FLEET

Rod Burdick, from Kingsford, Michigan, is a high school teacher in Crystal Falls and a Great Lakes marine photographer. His works appear regularly in several publications and on the Internet.