'Boomin' Beaver' Is The Smallest Active-Duty US Navy Vessel, And It's Adorable

With more than 450 vessels in the U.S. Navy, there is sure to be a variety of ships, but exactly how diverse is our navy? Many of us know about the U.S.' 11 aircraft carriers, 83 destroyers and five-dozen submarines, but who's heard about the Boomin Beaver — the U.S. Navy's smallest active vessel — and why does one live right beside our oldest active warship?

The Boomin' Beaver sits just shy of 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, and it packs a spry 260 hp from a Cummins Diesel paired to a ZF transmission — one of the more interesting places you'll find a Cummins motor that's not a swap. Speedy operators can pilot this sedan-sized vessel to a blistering 8 mph (~7 knots) — watch out!

For the military fanatics among us, there is a legitimate chance you can buy one of these someday. A beaver sold at auction in 2006 for $100,000 — a modest price for the modest military vessel. Jokes aside, with such a miniscule stature compared to the rest of America's costly Naval fleet, what exactly are they using Boomin' Beavers for?

The Beaver is properly known as the Boomin Beaver-class security tug (19BB), and as the name suggests, these tiny tugs spend most of their days around naval yards. More specifically, most 19BBs are tasked with opening and closing the security barriers to Navy bases and piers. It's an interesting departure from its manufacturer's intended function as a commercial logging hauler.

A Boomin' Beaver tug is used in Charlestown Massachusetts alongside the USS Constitution — the oldest "active" warship in America's Navy. The short length and narrow width gives the tiny tug an excellent turning radius for naval yards and piers. Typically, the Beaver is used to deploy floating security fences. On the rare occasion that the USS Constitution is sailed, the Boomin Beaver is tasked with pushing the 1,900 ton artifact away from the dock and out to sea.

Elsewhere, 19BBs have been spotted at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor in WA, and Naval Base San Diego in CA — most likely serving similar roles as the one in Charlestown Massachusetts. The aforementioned security barriers don't serve much real defense against incoming threats, but instead indicate Naval controlled property to incoming commercial sea traffic.

The Boomin' Beaver certainly serves an interesting role in the U.S. Navy — its small, but mighty presence should give us all reason to look a bit further into the many kinds of tiny transportation around us.