''John J. Harvey'' is a fireboat formerly of the New York City Fire Department in

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, famed for returning to service following the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. She is among the most powerful fireboats ever built, capable of pumping up to 18,000 gallons of water a minute. Launched in 1931, ''John J. Harvey'' had a distinguished career in the FDNY until her retirement in 1994. She was named for marine fireman John J. Harvey, killed when a ship exploded during a fire. Among the marine fires at which she assisted were the

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pier fire in 1932, the burning of in 1942, the ammunition ship in 1943, and the collision of the

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s ''Alva Cape'' and ''Texaco Massachusetts'' in 1966. Her official designation at the end of her career was ''Marine 2''. ''John J. Harvey'' was sold, at auction, in 1999, to a private consortium of marine

preservationist Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation us ...

s determined to prevent her from being

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. In June 2000 she was added to the

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. Her current owners have thoroughly restored her, and host frequent free trips on the river. She is currently moored at

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, located at 12th Avenue and 26th Street on the

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. In 2018, she was repainted at the Caddell Dry Dock, Staten Island, in a red and white dazzle pattern as part of an art project by

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, in commemoration of the

dazzle camouflage Dazzle camouflage, also known as razzle dazzle (in the U.S.) or dazzle painting, is a family of ship camouflage that was used extensively in World War I, and to a lesser extent in World War II and afterwards. Credited to the British marine ar ...

used on World War I ships.

September 11, 2001

''John J. Harvey'' had an unexpected

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. Shortly after the attacks on the

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on September 11, 2001, the boat's owners asked FDNY officials for permission to assist in maritime evacuations from

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. Meanwhile, firefighters had determined that the vast scale of destruction had damaged many fire mains, depriving fire crews of water. Officials radioed ''John J. Harvey,'' asking if her pumps still worked. Responding that they did, she was told to drop off her passengers as soon as possible and return to the disaster site, reactivating her official designation ''Marine 2''. Alongside two other FDNY fireboats, and , she pumped water at the site for 80 hours, until water mains were restored. The

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

gave ''John J. Harvey'' a special National Preservation Award to recognize this incident. ''John J. Harvey''s story was the subject of a 2002 children's book. Fireboat John J

References

Notes Further reading * ''Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey'', by

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, 2002. \

External links

* * * * {{Museums in Manhattan, state=collapsed Service vessels of the United States Fireboats of New York City Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state) Museum ships in New York (state) Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan 1931 ships Museums in Manhattan Firefighting museums in the United States Port of New York and New Jersey Chelsea, Manhattan Ships built in Brooklyn