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Originally Posted by Olefin
FYI one thing you have to keep in mind that in the timeline there would be at least two and possibly three steam fired coal ships still in operation on the Great Lakes
SS City of Midland 41 was a four thousand ton train ferry that in our real world was converted to a barge in late 1997 - but with the need for transport and the oil shortage most likely would have still been operational - and she operates on coal, not oil
SS Badger is still operating on the Great Lakes today - again a 4000 ton coal powered steam fired train ferry
SS Spartan was used as a parts ship for the other two - but might be able to be made functional
Those two (or three) ships would be hugely of use to either CivGov or MilGov - and are more than big enough to mount a decent amount of armament on them
and these are big ships - they had staterooms and other accommodations - they could haul 600 or more in comfort - and probably a lot more in less comfort - i.e. troops and their vehicles
Not sure if they have been discussed here before - they are home ported in Wisconsin and go back and forth to Michigan
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City of Midland 41's last voyage was in November 1988, though - she spent 9 years in dock before being converted to a barge. Depending on the level of preservation work done on her, she may have been unable to be economically returned to service well before she was converted to a barge.
That said, the Twilight War could have seriously changed how vessels were retired and brought back into service, so with that said, here are some other coal-powered vessels that theoretically could have been of use:
Another laid-up steam vessel is SS City of Milwaukee, a 2,942-ton car ferry that sailed from 1930-1982 and is preserved as a museum in Manistee with her steam engines intact.
There's also SS Milwaukee Clipper, a 4,272-ton car ferry preserved in Muskegon, which sailed 1904-1970 and has been a museum ship since 1977.
On the Canadian side of things, SS Keewatin is a 3,856-ton passenger and freight ship that operated 1907-1966 and is a museum ship at Port McNicoll, Ontario, but until 2011 she was at Douglas, Michigan.
One that's been scrapped but might have still been around in a T2K timeline is SS Chief Wawatam, the last hand-fed coal steamer on the lakes. A 2,990 ton train ferry and icebreaker, it sailed from 1911-1984, was converted to a barge in 1989, and scrapped in 2009. One of its triple-expansion engines is on display at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc.
Finally, the two Detroit to Boblo Island ferries, SS Columbia and SS Ste. Claire, would also be potentially in use. They operated from 1902 and 1910 until 1991. They're much smaller (968 and 890 tons, respectively) and passenger-only, but could make for useful transports.