Page 5: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 15, 1969)

First Of A New Class For United Tankers Will Carry Alaskan Oil To California The first of a new class of tank-ers for the United Tankers Group was launched recently at the Spar-rows Point, Md. shipyard of Beth-lehem Steel Corporation. Mrs. Mil-ton Niergarth, daughter of United Tanker's chairman of the board, J. Carter Hammel, sponsored the vessel. Another ship of the same class is under construction at Spar-rows Point. When delivered this spring, the 37,250-dwt Eagle Leader will be as-signed to take up a charter with Union Oil Company of California to carry oil from its recently dis-covered oil field in Alaska to the Long Beach, Calif, area. The Eagle Leader's cargo tanks were coated with an epoxy sys-tem specifically designed for cold weather application. This was the first time that the system has been utilized in the Sparrows Point ship-yard. These coatings will enable the ship to operate with a minimum of maintenance. The Eagle Leader and her sis-tership will have an extended cruis-ing range of about 12,000 miles. Storerooms, both dry and refriger-ated, are large enough to hold a six-months supply of stores. The vessel has a capacity of 333,-000 barrels in its 15 tanks, and may be converted to the grain trade with a grain carrying capacity of ap-proximately 1,500,000 bushels. Her cargo handling pumps will be cap-able of discharging a full liquid cargo in 14 hours. The ship is equipped with Beth-lehem centralized control which al-lows control of the engine from the bridge. The centralized control sys-tem is based upon the remote oper-ation of the main propulsion plant for all ahead, astern, and maneu-vering conditions, including stand-by. The propulsion plant is oper-ated from the bridge control sta-tion while the engine room central control station serves solely as a monitor of engine performance and bridge commands. The latter incor-porates the engine controls and all other pertinent instrumentation and alarms to operate the vessel. The ship is expected to operate at a normal sea speed of 16 knots. It has a 15,000-shp turbine driving a single screw. The design includes a curved rake stem, a cruiser stern and a spade rudder. Length overall is 660 feet 2 inches, with length between per-pendiculars of 630 feet. Its molded breadth is 90 feet and molded depth is 48 feet 9 inches. The draft will be about 36 feet 8 inches at 37.250 dwt. The vessel is built under the latest rules of the American Bu-reau of Shipping and will be in-spected and classified by the Bu-reau. A flume stabilization system, which involves the use of the cargo or ballast in three otherwise normal cargo tanks to reduce the roll of the vessel, is installed. This sys-tem is fitted in the No. 2 tanks, which differs from an installation in the No. 1 tanks made on an earlier vessel at Sparrows Point. The house-aft vessel has been constructed to be as maintenance free as possible. The exterior hull from keel to rail and the weather deck are all protected by epoxy coatings. The crew will be quarter-ed in single rooms of the most modern design, fully air conditioned and with permanent pre-finished plastic-coated bulkheads which will require a minimum of maintenance. The latest in navigation and safe-ty-at-sea equipment is provided, all of which are in accordance with the latest regulations of the U.S. Coast Guard. The Eagle Leader is the seventh vessel of the 37,000-ton class to be launched at Sparrows Point. The yard now has under construction, or under contract, 18 vessels: two Navy ammunition ships, two con-tainerships, eight 37,000-ton tank-ers or chemical carriers, and six large tankers ranging up to nearly 70,000-dwt. Following the launching, Daniel M. Mack-Forlist, general manager of the yard, was the host at a luncheon in honor of the sponsor. United Tanker Group owns and/ or operates 22 ships, most of them tankers. Included in the organiza-tion's operations is the South At-lantic and Caribbean Lines from Miami and Jacksonville, Fla., to Puerto Rico. It was stated by J. P. Coakley, president of the United Tanker Group, that plans are being formu-lated for further construction in the near future. Mitsubishi Delivers Oil-Drilling Platform To Southeastern Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Japan, recently delivered at its Hiroshima Shipyard & Engine Works, the semi-submersible mo-bile offshore drilling platform Sed-co 135G to Southeastern Drilling Inc., of the United States. The platform is specially design-ed for stability under rough seas. The platform which has a drill-ing capacity of 26,000 feet, a total weight during operation of 9,500 tons and a height of approximately 328 feet, is believed to be one of the largest drilling platforms in the world. The platform is of the three-cais-son type with a triangular main deck supported by three cylindrical caissons, each having a diameter of 36 feet and a height of 131 feet, with a footing at the bottom of each caisson. GE Appoints Tanner Navy & Marine Sales Subsection Manager Richard W. Tanner Richard W. Tanner has been ap-pointed manager of the new Navy and Marine Sales Subsection of the General Electric Company Indus-try Control Department, Salem, Va. He will be responsible for world-wide sales of central operations systems and Navy and marine starters, accessories, and related equipment. Mr. Tanner joined General Elec-tric in 1952 on the engineering test program. Since, he has had posi-tions as a proposition and sales en-gineer with the Industry Control Department. In 1956, he moved to the Navy and marine sales unit and has been a sales engineer, a sales specialist and was sales manager until his recent appointment. Mr. Tanner received his bachelor of science degree in electrical engi-neering from Clarkson College of Technology in 1952. He served with the U.S. Navy. Mr. Tanner is a member of The Society of Na-val Architects and Marine Engi-neers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Inc. Maritime Administratioi Liberty-Ship Conversion Acting Maritime Administrator James W. Gulick has approved in principle the trade-out under the Ship Exchange Act of a Liberty ship from the reserve fleet to Yacht Transfer, Inc., for conversion to an oceangoing barge for the transpor-tation of pleasure craft and other items. The trade-out of the Liberty ship is subject to Yacht Transfer, Inc., meeting financial, citizenship and other requirements of the ship-exchange program as set forth in Public Law 86-575 and Public Law 89-254. An announcement by the Mari-time Administration said that Yacht Transfer, Inc., is to be organized for the specific purpose of trans-porting pleasure craft for individual owners and manufacturers by a large-capacity oceangoing barge. Details of plans for the conver-sion, as explained by the Maritime Administration, are as follows: "The Liberty ship would be con-verted into a semi-submersible, oceangoing barge by the removal of the ship's interior, cutting off the l Tentatively Approves To Oceangoing Barge stern and installing a door. The proposed barge would be able to load craft weighing up to 60 tons by use of mobile cranes after the craft have been floated to the door at the stern. Heavier craft could be floated into the barge by submerg-ing the barge. When used as a modified drydock, the barge has a reported lifting capacity of 5,000 tons. The barge would also have four booms forward with a maxi-mum lifting capacity of 30 tons, and the main cargo well deck would be 250 feet by 40 feet by 32 feet high. The No. 1 cargo hold would be retained and used for cargo which should not be exposed to the elements. The company's trans-porting service would be primarily along the East Coast and in the Caribbean Islands. Other proposed uses of the barge by the company ?transport new boats from manu-facturers, transport houseboats, transport shrimp boats from Texas to the shrimp fields in Western Caribbean, and transport heavy construction machinery, smaller barges and floating dredges." Launching party for Eagle Leader at Bethlehem's Sparrows Point shipyard included, left to right: Daniel M. Mack-Forlist, general manager of the yard; J. Carter Hammel, chair-man of the board of United Tankers; Mrs. Milton Niergarth, sponsor; Rep. Edward A. Garmatz, chairman of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, and Daniel D. Strohmeier, vice-president, shipbuilding, Bethlehem Steel Corporation. February 7, 1969 11