The four-bladed right-rotating nozzle propeller has a diameter of 1700 mm [67 "] at 370 mm [14.57 "] pitch.

The engine and boiler factory "Ottensener Eisenwerke“ in Hamburg-Altona had finally delivered the boiler in 1949, and it was immediately installed. It's a Scottish ship's boiler with two corrugated fire tubes and 132 returning smoke pipes with a heating surface of 92 m² [139932 lb./sq." = 972 sq. ft.] that deliver saturated steam at 16 atmospheres [235 lb./sq."] pressure.
Between the boiler and engine room transverse bunkers were installed that permit only a narrow connecting passageway.

Thus the steamer has a very large service radius. As a result of the wide beam the engine and boiler-room are very roomy with good visual oversight.
The crew accommodations leave nothing to be desired. The captain's quarters in the foreship has three rooms, the machinist has two rooms for his use in the after-ship that are connected to the engine room. Aft thereof are three connecting cabins for deck crew and fireman. Galley and head are located in a deckhouse at the foreship.

As a result of many postwar difficulties the tug was first put in service in 1952. Thereafter she towed on the waterways of the Mark Brandenburg, and the Elbe und Saale Rivers. In the last years before the end of the GDR she served as a floating heating plant for the office building of a glass factory in Berlin-Rummelsburg, and so was underway no more.
With placing the steam tug once again in service since 1990 by the BBSG, this important witness of shipping history remains preserved.
A better berth for "Andreas" than in the Historic Harbor in Berlin-Mitte, on the tip of the Fischer-Island on the "Märkisches Ufer" bank of the Spree, nearby the excellent small "Märkisches Museum", is hard to visualize. Here in the heart of "Old Berlin" there existed from early times in "Kupfergraben", a branch of the Spree, Berlin's first harbor and transshipment site.

Also, the pier at the Jannowitzbrücke has been in place since 1 April 1864 and is thus as old as Berlin shipping. "Andreas" is, as the flagship, not only the central focus in the Historical Harbor but also, with her volunteer activities and many-membered crew, underway on numerous tours and accessible for the public.

The Historic Harbor is easily accessible with either BVG bus 245, or S-Bahn [subway] U2 to the "Märkischen Museum" stops, and is a short and pleasant walk from Alexanderplatz. The Australian Embassy is around the corner, the Netherlands across the Spree and the Chinese along the embankment towards the Jannowitzbrücke.

Heinz Trost

Member of the Association BBSG e. V., also known as the "Pope of Steamboats".
His main concern in life has been researching steam powered inland shipping.

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