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I served on a Distribution Box (DB) Boat. The L-Boat (designated as such by the Army as they assigned each boat with an L- number) was 65' long, 18' beam and about 60 tons. It was all steel except for some wood trim in the Pilot House. The deck crane, foreward of the Pilot House, was mounted in a grove so it could be run back and forth (When foreward, it was used to raise and/or lower the distribution box and cable from/to the sea floor. When the DB was up, It was moved aft so that control cable(s) could be attached or removed from the box). I was assigned to the boat for about a year, not good for me as I got seasick when I (just) walked out on the dock. BUT, it was certainly different duty for an Army guy. I left the boat when it was turned over to the Navy, They offered to take any army crew member and transfer them to the Dept. of the Navy. Because of my quesy insides, I declined. The skipper, Sgt. Ferko, also declined and was eventually transfered to Italy and I lost touch.
We helped train Navy personnel on the operation and peculiarities of the L-Boat. (The Army transferred the assignment of controlled submarine mines to the Navy between 1948 to 1950). Controlled mines were more technical than the contact firing mines the Navy usually employed). We did haul up mine DB, submarine cable, made trips to Cape May, NJ (The Base there fell within our assigned area of responsibility), and made Fishing trips for military personnel. (When Army Vessels were idle, they were alowed to make Moral, Welfare and Recreational (MWR) assignments, when the user reimbursed the QM for fuel. They considered the trips training for the Ships crew).
Our Skipper, Sgt Andrew Ferko, an engineer (Corporal ?) and the esteemed seaman, me (PFC). We generally docked in the Lewes / Rehoboth Canal and the Mine Planters docked at the pier on the Base. A detail was assigned whenever we had a cable pulling, DB requirement or some other labor intensive job assigned. I became a photographer after I arrived in Germany three years latter, after Korea, and regret missing (the opportunity) of taking photos at Ft Miles.
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(A WARNING to all service men out there).
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My Skipper was an outstanding person and treated the crew well. I can recall after my assignment to the boat. When bringing our pay envelopes (remember getting paid in cash ?), he asked if he could pick up anything in town for the engineer and me. I (regreattly) suggested some rum and coke (after all, I'm now a sailor, so lets drink a sailors drink). Bad move!
My general duties (as a PFC, not as a general) were chipping (paint) and painting, polishing brass and handling the lines when we shoved off or docked. In general the boat was well equiped. We had a very well equiped, all stainless steel galley (aft - starboard portion of the cabin), Below decks were six bunks, a head and an engine. The Pilot House had a (helm) wheel and throttle, a pedestal mounted compass, an (engine) telegraph and at the rear of the wheel house was a radio shack. The engine was a Fairbank-Morse diesel. Foreward, we had a fresh (potable) water storage tank. The Skipper doubled as radio operator, sometimes I took over the wheel when he had to use the radio. Our Base Mess Sargeant supplied food most of the time, and, we all prepared food in the galley at one time or the other.
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L-82 from the collection of Steve Moreau