A little more background information...
The Sea Mules were designed with no concession to style at all. However, that has some appeal in itself – all function over form – a hard working machine in a tough environment. A friend of mine did his National Service driving a $5million German tank. He said that his four 19-year old crew members spent their whole 12 months trying to get it to do things it was never supposed to do and pushing it to its breaking point. I imaging that was the sort of life the Sea Mules had – 12 cylinders, 1400 gallons of gas and a crew of 19 year olds – what could possible go wrong?
Thousands of Sea Mules were delivered (I read somewhere: 8000 but I don’t know if this is correct) and used throughout the Pacific and Europe but only a few still survive. After the war some more up-market versions were made for the US and export markets, with a few added luxuries like wheelhouses (like Bob's Coast Guard version), and even accommodation.
Before I get started on the model I should say that for a design that had thousands made it is very hard to find any information or reference about them. The once mighty Sea Mule – just like the Dodo and the Passenger Pigeon, has just disappeared and has almost been forgotten. I have however managed to find a very basic GA and enough photos make a model.
Sea Mule design varied between the main US manufacturers so a Chrysler Sea Mule was a little different to an Ingrams one, and they had numerous developments and variations as the war went on. I plan to base my model on the Chrysler C-3 version that was produced in Auckland, in 1943. Several local boat yards made them for the USN, and this particular boat came from Mason Bros. of Mechanic’s Bay, Auckland. They made 75 in total, along with quite a few YTLs and workboats. The launching photo is one of 7 workboats launched that day, the other 2 are YTLs from Mason Bros.
YTL 622, 625 and 627 stayed in NZ after the war ended – 622 became HMNZS Manawanui (diving tender), 627 became HMNZS Arataki (Devonport Naval Base tug). 625 became the James O'Brien harbour tug. I have a build of the 625 here on the forum.
These YTLs were designed in the USA but after several were built in Australia it became apparent that there were some problems in the hull shapes. These were corrected in NZ and used for subsequent builds in NZ and Australia.
When the war ended the Navy’s active Sea Mules were sunk, abandoned or gifted to the islands that they were in. A couple stayed in NZ at the end of the war but they are long gone now.