The John Kendall was a steam-powered fireboat operated by the Detroit Fire Department from 1930 to 1976. During her service as a fireboat she continued to be propelled by steam engines, requiring a crew of ten, five of whom were required to stoke her boiler. She was converted to a tugboat, and her steam engines were finally replaced by diesel engines. She served an additional 20 years as a tug, out of Alpena, Michigan.
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According to Bob Dombrowski, the author of 38 Years: a Detroit Firefighter's Story, she was 135 feet (41 m) long. But in 1976, the year she was decommissioned, The Scanner reported she was 128 feet (39 m) long.
namesake
The vessel's namesake had followed his father's footsteps, and joined the Fire Department as a volunteer, when he was just fourteen years old. He served the Department for 58 years. John Kendall was appointed Detroit's third Fire Department Chief in 1898. Detroit's first two Fire Chiefs, James Battle and James R. Elliott had previously been honored by having the Department's second and third fireboats named after them. Detroit's fifth and most recent fireboat, the Curtis Randolph, was named after a firefighter who died in the line of duty.