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A salvage tug is a specialized type of tugboat which is used to rescue or marine salvage ships which are in distress or in danger of sinking, or which have already sunk or run aground.

Few tugboats have ever been truly fully dedicated to salvage work; most of the time, salvage tugs operate towing ships, barges, platforms, or other utility tugboat work. Tugs fitted out for salvage are found in small quantities around the globe, with higher concentrations near areas with both heavy shipping traffic and hazardous weather conditions.

Salvage tugs are fitted with additional specialized equipment, including:

• extensive towing provisions and extra tow lines/cables, with provisions for towing from both bow and stern and at irregular angles
• extra cranes
• pumps
• firefighting gear
  • deluge systems
  • nozzles
  • hoses
• mechanical equipment such as:
  • welding equipment
  • compressed air gear
  • diving equipment
  • steel for hull patches
  • common mechanical repair parts
• And, of course, specialized crew experienced in salvage operations, called salvors.

While salvage tugs are still in use, ubiquitous radar and depth sounders, GPS, and proper charts have made normal ship operations orders of magnitude safer than they were even thirty years ago. Ships are also much larger on the average than they were, and more damage resistant due to proper hull bulkheads, double bottoms and double hulls, and more reliable machinery. The total demand for salvage tug services is significantly down from its peaks in the years around WW II.

The increasing sensitivity of societies and legal systems to environmental damage and the increasing size of ships has to some extent offset the decline in the number of salvage operations undertaken. Accidents such as major oil tanker groundings or sinkings may require extreme salvage efforts to try and minimize the environmental damage (see Exxon Valdez oil spill, Amoco Cadiz, Torrey Canyon and in general Category:Oil spills).

One well-known nonfiction book about salvage tugs is The Grey Seas Under by Canadian author Farley Mowat.

• Tugboat
• Fireboat

• Famous Salvage Tug Holland Saved
• Salvage World magazine, International Salvage Union, also available online at www.marine-salvage.com
• International Tug and Salvage magazine, website [1]
• International Salvage Union trade association for Salvage Tugs
• Example Salvage Companies
  • Donjon Marine Co., a US based tug and salvage company
  • Gigilinis Shipping, a Greek maritime company with salvage operations
  • Smit Internationale
  • SvitzerWijsmuller
  • Titan Salvage a Global US based salvage company with offices around the world.
  • United Salvage, a UK/Australian/South Pacific salvage company

• Mowat, Farley., The Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug. The Lyons Press, 2001, ISBN 1-58574-240-6 (First published as The Grey Seas Under, Little, Brown & Co., 1958, ISBN 0-316-58637-4)
• A REASSESSMENT OF THE MARINE SALVAGE POSTURE OF THE UNITED STATES, ed National Research Council Committee on Marine Salvage Issues, Marine Board, Commission on Engineering and Techncial Systems., National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1994