ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn
ORIGINAL: crsutton
In short yes. They were capable of ocean trips and probably just as seaworthy as a large ship if built to the same standards. Aside from capacity, the real shortcoming of smaller ships is that they are affected more by adverse weather. That is they go slower. Seas and wind are not going to hinder a larger ships as much. So, they were better suited for coastal trade and short hops. Still they are seaworthy. In game terms it is an abstraction anyways. An AKL could be any variety of small ship-passenger ferrys, large barges, and so on. Some of which probably would not be suitable for the open sea. They were still using large commercial sailing ships during the war. Few and far between but they were there. In game terms the AKL fills all of these roles. Great lakes class are not ocean going by design. Being long and narrow, super heavy seas would break their backs.
The Edmund Fitzgerald
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A
Yes, my old union. I remember the date well. The more recent loss of the El Faro took a lot of my union brothers as well. Sometimes at sea, it is just your time. No matter what the ship.
