Picture by J.Lingbeek via http://www.tugspotters.com
Picture by F. Janse via http://www.tugspotters.com
Battleaxe:
IMO : 7636913
Build : 1978 by Hall, Russel co ltd, Aberdeen in the UK, nr 978 as Lyrie
The very first Official Ugly Ship, the one that started this all.
I have seen in it England somewhere sometime and I thought it to be so ugly it became actually very cool.
Shown it to a lot of people and they all agreed…….so that was the seed for this website, a large amount of time later and I’m telling you via this medium. Cool huh??
And you know what: she got 2 sisters as well, over which later more.
BTW: You gotta love the name, its the best ever for a ship!
Update (09-07-2009)
As I have given attention to both sisterships I also thought it to be no more than fair to update this post about good old Battleaxe:
Here are a few more pics to show off her ugliness in all glory!
As Lady in red Lyrie:
As Elsie in more traditional colors:
And finally as Battleaxe, soon to be discovered by me and to sow the seed of this site:
Picture by J.P. Hoogendoorn via http://www.tugspotters.com
The cumulative history:
Stanechakker : IMO 7636896, januari 1978, yard nr 976.
Swaabie : IMO 7636901, march 1978, yard nr 977.
1996 Evelynn, 1998 Samson
Lyrie : IMO 7636913, november 1978, yard nr 978.
1996 Elsie, 1998 Battleaxe
WWW.UGLYSHIPS.COM 
I know BattleAxe very well. She is a beautiful girl.
Very good name! her sisters are named Hatchet and Tomahawk??
They wish!!!
Bowsprite,put a bowline in it. Battleaxes’s Master is my son,so whats your ugly scuttlebutt.So Battleaxes’s fire headgear looms like a vertical bowsprit. So what-So did Cleopatra’s. Never heard her described as ugly.Ugly is as ugly does. Battleaxe is a blessing to shipping
I agree with Battleaxe comment above! Good on ya! You tell it like it is!
I have seen Battleaxe and she is beautiful,even in all her dirty glory!
To steal a line from Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising; “at least we don’t name our ships after our mother in laws…”
Foo
scary!!! time to call in the united nations peacekeeping force.
Not an ugly tug, just a pity about the main mast configuration, a vessel that has proved herself over many years, a very good friend of mine Capt. Tony da Silva was Master on her during her last visit to the Port of Durban in South Africa
I took her for the salvage of the CP valour in the Azores then had her again for 6 months working Angola. She ended up in South Africa for Svitzers last time I heard of her
[…] The (and I quote from that first post) “very first Official Ugly Ship, the one that started this all” was the tug Battleaxe, see that post (later updated a bit) here. […]