Tid Tug Set (T.I.D. Class Tug) – Short Kit (Set) Inc. Plan and Article

All required details are on a single sheet plan including full-size frames and profile for a model. Magazine Article is also available (Included with this set). Designed by Adrian Brewer.

Laser Cut Wood Pack includes frames to construct the hull and deck of this wartime chine hulled tug.

The Full Size – During WW2 there was a need for a large number of harbour tugs to handle the shipping and warships involved with the war effort. When the TID tug was designed it was one of the first vessels to be built using steel prefabricated construction in the UK and reputable they were built at the rate of one a week with women performing much of the welding.

The tug at Maldon is the Brent, TID No.159. It was launched at Sunderland in 1946 and was the last TID to be built. I understand that she was saved from the scrapyard in about 1971 by Mr R. Hall who owned her until his death a few years ago. Ownership passed to his widow, who, together with two friends, is in the process of setting up a trust with the purpose of repairing and preserving the ship. I believe that this trust may be set up under the auspices of the Medway Maritime Trust.

In 1942 there was a need for a large number of tugs to handle warships and merchant ships at ports around the UK and, later, structures that were needed for the Normandy landings. The problem was that they were needed quickly and there were no riveters available for new ship contracts. The Americans were already involved in the production line building of ships built by welding but the British had not yet tried this method. A design was commissioned that could largely be built by non-shipyard labour, using other engineering firms many miles apart. The final design was for a hard chine ship the shape and detail of which was quite different from anything that had been built before. The design was tank tested and found to be satisfactory. It was decided to build the hull in eight separate sections, each weighing about six tons, which could be transported by road for final assembly at a shipyard. Some of these sections were transported to the shipyard from up to 200 miles away. Initially, the contracts for the sections were given to five companies and the final assembly and fitting out was to be carried out by Richard Dunstan Ltd at Thorne in Yorkshire and later, when Dunstans could not cope with the demand, by William Pickersgill in Sunderland (Brent was completed by Pickersgills).

Production began in 1943. Many of the tugs were assembled at Thorne then towed downriver to Hull where they were fitted out. When the first tug was finished, its test run was a trip upriver to tow down the next hull, a practice that was continued and was a quick and efficient working plan. An important innovation at the time was that most of the welding was done by women. The plan worked so well that ships were being built at the rate of one every five days and the record was four days. I wonder if this could be achieved today? – More information on the full size is in the Magazine article which is included with the Plan and Short Kit (Set).