Taking a Look at a Famous Crane

Believe it or not, there are several construction cranes that are considered historical. The “Titan” is one of the largest floating cranes in the world, and has quite the historical background.

This crane was actually built due to a request that was made by Adolf Hitler. It was built in Germany in 1941 and the U.S. eventually seized it during WWII from Nazi Germany. The United States Navy took the crane apart and moved it to Long Beach, California. Shipping the crane to Long Beach, CA, cost about $350,000 then which is equivalent to about $3.2 million now. It was put up in Long Beach in 1948 and started operating.

In fact, Germany built three massive cranes during this time period. One crane got lost in a storm when it was being carried across the English Channel, and the other essentially got “lost” but was originally given to Russia.

The Titan was eventually sold to the Panama Canal Authority in 1996 when the Naval Shipyard in Long Beach eventually closed. The crane is now used there now to lift back-up gates. The crane is also floated into the locks of the canal to lift other doors and gates. It can lift up to 771,618 pounds, making it one of the strongest cranes in the world. The crane is 375 feet tall in total, making it quite the towering structure. It also uses roughly 11,681 feet of wire rope and has a 900-horsepower diesel engine. It also uses 144 gallons of fuel per hour at 100% load.

The crane was frequently known as “Herman the German” or the “German crane” as well, hence it came from Germany to begin with.