Page 4: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 15, 1969)

Aerial view of Esso San Francisco sliding into the Mississippi River. Progress on the second tanker can be seen as it sits on the building blocks. Avondale Sets Worldwide Record For Side Launchings "he Esso San Francisco The largest ship in the world to be launched sideways, a 75,600-dwt tanker being built by Avondale Shipyards for Humble Oil & Refin-ing Company, was christened recently at the builder's main yard in New Orleans. The latest addition to the Esso fleet, the Esso San Fran-cisco, is the first of three such ships now under construction at Avondale. The "three sisters" will be the largest ships in the company's fleet serving the U.S. market. The sponsor of the vessel was Mrs. William W. Bryan, wife of a senior vice-president of Humble Oil & Refining Company. Her matron of honor was her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Ro-bert H. Bryan. The Esso San Francisco has an overall length of 810 feet, a length between perpendiculars of 763 feet, a beam of 125 feet and a depth of 54y2 feet. Its cargo of 650.440-barrels of oil is carried in 21 tanks. The ship has a one-boiler steam-turbine powerplant rated at 19,000 shp which will give a trial speed of 17.0 knots. The size of the vessel is only one of the many features that will contribute significant-ly to the Esso San Francisco's efficient and economical operation. A centralized cargo-con-trol system permits one man to supervise the loading or discharging of more than 600,000-barrels of petroleum in less than a day's time. Deck officers will control the main engines and navigate the ship from a modern and ef-ficient wheelhouse. And, a 1,200-hp bow thrust-er will assist in maneuvering the 810-foot-long tanker and reduce docking time. The crew's private accommodations are func-tionally designed for comfort?including car-peting, fluorescent lighting and air condition-ing. Materials used in the rooms were selected for easy-to-clean features and economical main-tenance. The Esso San Francisco is the first ocean tanker in the Humble fleet, as well as the largest ship in the world, to be launched side-ways. Delivery of the vessel, after final outfit-ting and sea trials, is scheduled for December. The Humble Oil & Refining Company oper-ates the largest privately owned fleet flying the stars and stripes. Its 21 tankers sail from Maine to Texas and from Alaska to California. Last year the ships delivered to various ports some 150,000,000-barrels of crude oil and petro-leum products?a substantial share of the na-tion's energy requirements. Beyond its size, the Humble fleet is one of the most modern and technologically advanced in design and equipment in the world today. The Esso San Francisco, for instance, is the fifth new ship built for Humble in this decade. Each ship is a product of the most current ma-rine engineering and technology available. Avondale Shipyards has more than 9,000 employees, and a backlog of contracts well in excess of $750-million. According to Avondale president. Henry Zac Carter, the corporation has recently en-gaged in a $33-million expansion program calculated to make the shipyard one of the most modern and competitive in the world. Work is already complete on the project which involved the development of an additional 100-acres of land to receive a highly sophisticated plate handling and fabricating facility. Auto-matic handling and cutting equipment is being used in conjunction with a radically new meth-od of ship construction. Now in operation, this "shipbuilding machine", financed entirely by Avondale, is designed to revolutionize do-mestic shipbuilding. Esso San Francisco launching party, left to right: Mrs. Robert H. Bryan, matron of honor; Mrs. William W. Bryan, sponsor, and Henry Zac Carter, president of Avondale Shipyards. 6 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News