Vessel Design
Luna was designed by John G. Alden (1884–1962), one of America's greatest and most prolific yacht designers, but was heavily influenced by the preferences of the tug's owner, the Mystic Steamship Company, and its subsidiary Boston Tow Boat Company. As a result, Luna's aesthetics embody the classical sweeping profile of the American harbor tug. The tugboat also had a very innovative propulsion plant: two diesel engines, each turning a generator and exciter to create DC current, which was then shunted (via prototypical switchboards) to a single DC motor (weighing 20 tons) attached to a single propeller shaft. The project was a showpiece for Thomas Edison's General Electric Corporation, which seized the challenge to design, build and deliver the components, in conjunction with their control subcontractors. Six years after Luna's delivery, GE reported that there were 33 diesel-electric tugs in service, 21 of which were GE installations.
Luna's wooden hull and deckhouses were built by the M.M. Davis Shipbuilding Company in Solomons, Maryland. The empty hull was towed from the Chesapeake to East Boston for outfitting at the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in East Boston.
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