Page 5: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 15, 1973)

Todd Los Angeles Launches First Of Four

Tankers Built For Private Investors

For Charter To Military Sealift Command

Shown on the launching platform, left to right: David Glyn Marshall; Mrs. David Glyn Mar- shall, matron of honor and daughter of th'

Commander, Military Sealift Command; M

I. Mendolia, Assistant Secretary of Defen

The Los Angeles Division of

Todd Shipyards 'Corporation re- cently launched the tanker Sealift

Pacific, first of four tankers being constructed at this Todd yard by private investors for long - term charter to the Navy's Military Sea- lift Command.

The .Sealift Pacific, designed by the naval architectural firm of J. J.

Henry Co., Inc., is 587 feet in over- all length, has a beam of 84 feet, and a deadweight in excess of 25,- 000 long tons. 'She will carry ap- proximately 220,000 barrels of cargo at a speed of 16 knots, with the capability of handling up to four separate liquid cargoes.

Mrs. Arthur I. Mendolia, wife of the Honorable Arthur I. Mendolia,

Assistant Secretary of Defense (In- stallations and Logistics), smashed the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow of the ship. Mrs.

Mendolia was assisted by her daugh- ter, Mrs. David Glyn Marshall, ma- tron of honor.

The tanker is a motor vessel pro- pelled by two medium-speed Piel- stick diesel engines, manufactured by Colt Industries, driving a single- screw Bird-Johnson controllable and reversible pitch propeller through a twin-pinion single reduc- tion gear. The total installed de- signed horsepower is 14,000 bhp.

The engine room is automated for one-man operation from a central control station, with a remote con- trol station located on the bridge.

The Sealift Pacific is the first in a class of vessels designed to meet the requirements of the Military

Sealift Command for logistical sup- port of our military forces. Todd

Shipyards Corporation is the lead yard for this class of tankers, of which a total of nine will be con- structed. sponsor; Rear Adm. John D. Chase, USN,

Arthur I. Mendolia, sponsor, and Arthur (Installations and Logistics).

Master of ceremonies at the launching was Carl M. Lippincott, general manager of Todd Los An- geles. Short addresses were deliv- ered by J.T. Gilbride, president of the Todd Corporation; Rear Adm.

John D. Chase, USN, Commander,

Military Sealift Command; T.M.

Thompson, chairman of the board,

General American Transportation

Company, and Jerome Shelby, se- nior vice president, Marine Trans- port Lines, Inc.

The principal speaker was the

Honorable Arthur I. Mendolia.

Close to 4,000 people attended the ceremonies.

Mr. Mendolia said the new tank- ers will allow vintage World War

II ships to be laid up and enable the Department of Defense to ful- fill more specific needs. "The shal- low draft of this vessel will allow it to get into and out of small ports —the type of ports which typically serve Army, Navy, Marine and Air

Force units. Their relatively small size also makes them economically advantageous in ports where ashore storage facilities are limited."

He noted a third advantage, ex- pansion of traditional Defense re- liance on merchant ships. "Revenue which is derived from the lease of privately owned ships to the Government provides a steady flow of funds to the maritime in- dustry," he explained.

An even greater significance, Mr.

Mendolia said, was that Sealift Pa- cific "represents an investment in

America" providing "direct employ- ment for 1,200 people, and indirect employment for 3,600 more."

Mr. Mendolia added that the $70- million Todd contract for Sealift

Pacific and three more tankers "has assisted in the modernization of the

Los Angeles Division of Todd

Shipyards. "Today we face a reality, the product of several years of coopera- tive effort among several Federal agencies, the owners of these ships, and the shipyards in which they were built," he added.

Financing and construction of the nine tankers was arranged by a consortium of three commercial companies : Marine Transport

Lines, a ship operating company;

Salomon Brothers, an investment banking firm which sold bonds nec- essary to finance the ships, and

CitiJCorp Leasing, a firm which specializes in leasing arrangements. "Before the financial package was complete, more than 14 major banks were involved. And 39 bond- ing companies, most of them repre- senting insurance companies and pension funds, arranged for sale of bonds which financed the develop- ment of all nine ships," Mr. Men- dolia said. A number of investors, primarily institutions, actually own the nine vessels.

Mr. Mendolia explained that it would be difficult to describe the extent of pre-construction effort, but illustrated the complex ar- rangements by noting that the pa- per work alone that needed to be signed filled nearly 25 large boxes. "That which followed," he said, "is more tangible, more visible to those of us who have gathered here today. ! understand that this ship —and each of the others—is the product of more than one-million hours of labor."

In brief remarks preceding the address by Mr. Mendolia, Admiral

Chase noted that acquisition, of the ships would help increase U.S. sea- power. The MSC commander also cited the flexibility of the small tankers which can effectively serve ports with limited petroleum stor- age facilities ashore.

Admiral Chase also lauded key

MSC staff members and those in other governmental agencies who helped make the build-and-charter program successful. He noted that the ship was delivered on time, in accordance with established speci- fications, and without an increase in the cost set forth in the contract.

This is a tribute, he said, to all in- volved, especially the Todd Ship- yards crews who actually built the ship.

MiSC is currently seeking to have two other ships built for long-term charter, one a LASH or lighter- aboard-ship vessel, and the other a

SEABEE. Both are barge carriers and would be used to help modern- ize U.S. contingency sealift capa- bility.

Military Sealift Command (MS-

C) will charter the tankers for an initial five-year period, with op- tions for an additional 15 years.

The ships will be civilian manned.

The ships will have a draft of 32y2 feet and cruise at 16 knots.

The 587-foot-long vessels will have a range of 12,000 nautical miles and each have a crew of 26, plus two cadets.

MSC presently operates a fleet of 16 Government-owned tankers, and 23 additional tankers are operating under MSC charter.

The command first issued a re- quest for proposals to build the tankers in February 1971.

Shell Oil Names

R.E. White Manager

Int'l Marine Sales

R.E. White

R.E. White has been appointed manager of international marine sales for Shell Oil Company, ac- cording to E.F. Loveland, vice president, commercial sales.

His appointment reflects a re- structuring at Shell to centralize supervision of all international ma- rine sales operations in the head office in Houston, Texas. "The consolidation will enable

Shell to be better able to expedite answers to all phases of customers' inquiries covering fuels and lubri- cants in today's ever-changing sup- ply climate," Mr. White said.

Mr. White, who has a B.S. de- gree in marine engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Acade- my, has been with Shell Oil for 19 years. He had been manager of ma- rine and railroad sales, then East- ern industrial sales manager, prior to being promoted to his present position.

Shell's international marine sales manager is a member of the Water

Resources Congress and The Pro- peller Club of the U.S.

Overseas Shipholding

Orders Three Tankers

Totaling 487,000 Dwt

Overseas Shipholding Group,

Inc. (OSG), New York, N.Y,. an- nounced that it has placed orders with Hitachi Shipbuilding & Engi- neering Company Ltd. of Japan for the construction of a 279,000-dwt tanker, a 128,000-dwt tanker and an 80,000-dwt tanker. The three tankers, aggregating 487,000-dwt, are scheduled to be delivered in the last quarter of 1977.

OSG presently owns and oper- ates 39 tankers and dry bulk car- riers aggregating 2,076,150 dwt.

O'SG's new.building program now encompasses 24 ships, totaling 3,471,500 dwt. By early 1978, when the last of these vessels is sched- uled to be delivered, OSG's fleet will total in excess of 5,500,000 dwt, including ten 50-percent owned and six 60-percent-owned vessels.

Over 60 percent of the tonnage now on order has already been chartered for terms of five years or more from delivery.

November 15, 1973 7