The Challenger is a fireboat built for the Long Beach California Fire Department. She and her sister ship the Liberty were commissioned in 1987. They replaced two older vessels.[1] Within a year both vessels developed serious corrosion problems, due to poor choice of alloys, and the joints between different metals.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/The_Challenger%2C_a_Long_Beach_California_fireboat_-a.jpg/300px-The_Challenger%2C_a_Long_Beach_California_fireboat_-a.jpg)
The Los Angeles Times reported that the vice president of Moss Point Marine, Vince Almerico, said "If the port wanted entirely rust-free vessels it could have specified use of stainless steel for everything at a much higher cost."[1]
The vessels were 88 feet long, and their five water cannons were capable of pumping water or foam at 10,000 gallons per minute.[1]
The two vessels cost $2.2 million each, in 1987 dollars, and, by September 1988 the Long Beach Harbor Commission had to allocate an addition $883,000 to repair the construction problems.[1][2]
The Challenger and the Liberty were delivered in a red livery with black trim, while the two older fireboats they replaced were grey.[1] The maintenance problems had such a serious effect on crew morale that the Los Angeles Times reported crew members had put up a sign, saying, the city should sell the red ones and keep the grey ones.
The Challenger and the Liberty are scheduled to be replaced by more modern fireboats in 2014.[3]
See also
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Chris Woodyard (1988-04-27). "2 Long Beach Fireboats Gathering Rust". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
After spending $4.4 million for two state-of-the-art fireboats, the Port of Long Beach is struggling to keep the vessels from becoming floating rust buckets.
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Chris Woodyard (1988-09-29). "Long Beach to Spend $883,000 to Save 2 Fireboats". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
The commission is paying $653,000, the largest chunk of the funds, to a Terminal Island boatyard to correct design and construction deficiencies and to fix corrosion damage on the twin $2.2-million Challenger and Liberty, which were delivered to the city within the past two years.
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"Powerful fireboat christened at Foss Maritime". Marine Log. 2014-04-15. Archived from the original on 2014-05-16.
Fireboat 20 and its sister are replacements for two older fireboats, the Liberty and Challenger.