Keel Laid At NASSCO For First Of Three 37,500-Ton Product Carriers

A keel-laying ceremony at National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), San Diego, Calif., initiated construction of the first of three 37,500-dwt product carriers being built by NASSCO for Union Oil Company of California.

William T. Nickerson, assistant manager of new construction for West Coast Shipping, Los Angeles, a wholly owned subsidiary of Union Oil, laid the keel, signaling the beginning of construction. Richard H. Vortmann. executive vice president, represented NASSCO in the keel-laying ceremony.

The product carriers are a new NASSCO design, designated the Carlsbad Class. They will be 658 feet in length, 100 feet in beam, have a 33-foot draft, and will carry 250,000 barrels of refined petroleum and petrochemical products from refineries to distribution centers.

The vessels will incorporate the most modern features available, including double bottoms, a clean segregated ballast system, an inert gas system, a sewage treatment plant, collision avoidance radar, and a backup steering system to meet the latest safety and environmental protection standards.

They will have steam turbine engines.

The first p r o d u c t c a r r i e r is scheduled for delivery in April 1981. It will be used to transport oil products from Union Oil's Beaumont, Texas, refinery to terminals on the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts.

NASSCO currently has under contract five Navy ships, an oil tanker and four product carriers.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc., Boise, Idaho.

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