Admittedly, I know nothing about ships, a little about river barges, quite a bit about inland fishing boats, But,I still have trouble understanding why the tow boats are not required all of the way to the ocean, with a ship that size. miles
I sailed up through Norfolk a few times. No bridges on the Hampton end but huge ships come barreling through there in and out on their own constantly. The only tugs I saw were escorting a submarine and pushing me out of the channel.
