The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

T2-SE-A1 Class, U.S. Tankers

Photograph of T2 tanker converted to Navy service

Mare Island #5595-43. Via Navsource.org

Tonnage	10,448 gross register tons 5,110 tons light displacement 21,880 tons full displacement
Dimensions	523'6" by 68' by 14'7" 159.56m by 20.73m by 4.45m
Maximum speed	15 knots
Complement	57
Machinery	1-shaft turbo-electric (6600 shp) 2 two-drum water tube boilers
Bunkerage	1468 tons
Range	10,800 nautical miles 20,000 km
Liquid capacity	141,158 barrels
Dry cargo	560 tons

The T2-SE-A1s were the most numerous Maritime Commission standard tankers built during the war and constituted all but eleven of the T-2 tankers constructed. Their design was developed by Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. for Standard Oil and the first ships of this type were laid down in early 1940. They were large ships equipped with turboelectric drive to avoid competing with the Navy for reduction gears, which had become the bottleneck for ship construction by spring 1941. They were well-suited for mass production, with an average total construction time of 70 days. Yet they were constructed carefully enough that at least four were still in service at the turn of the millennium. The ships were among the first to use all-welded construction, a technique pioneered by Sun.

The ships had nine sets of tanks; Tanks 2-9 had a center section with a capacity of 391,500 gallons (1,482,000 liters) and saddle tanks with 165,000 gallons (624,600 liters) each. Tank 1 had only two sections of 79,000 gallons (300,000 liters) each. There were 3 2000 gallon per minute (126 liters per second), 1 700 gallon per minute (44 liters per second), and 2 400 gallon per minute (25 liters per second) pumps in the rear pump room and one 700 gallon per minute (44 liters per second) and one 300 gallon per minute (19 liters per second) pump in the forward pump room, the front pumps being intended only for redistribution and stripping. There was a very small amount of dry cargo space, amounting to less than 600 cubic meters.

A number of T2 tankers suffered catastrophic structural failure, including Schenectady in January 1943. Schenectady was berthed at Portland when abruptly, and with a loud report, the main deck and sides of the hull cracked just aft of the midships deckhouse. Only the bottom plating remained intact, and the ship jacknifed and her bows and stern came to rest on the river bottom. Investigators initially blamed the structural failure on an excessive number of stress points in the hull and on the all-welded construction. The use of welds allowed cracks to propagate great distances rather than being arrested at the edges of riveted plates. The T-2 design was tweaked to reduce stress points, and crack arrestors were riveted to the hulls. However, postwar investigators pinpointed low-quality steel as the culprit. The steel had a high sulfur content, which at lower temperatures made the steel excessively brittle.

A number of units built to Navy contract were designated T2-SE-A2 tankers. These are listed under the Pasig and Escambia classes. They differed from the T2-SE-A1 chiefly in using a more powerful (10,000 shp) turboelectric drive originally developed for the P2-SE2 transports. This was done because the less powerful drive was in short supply and there was surplus production capacity at General Electric for the more powerful drive. Curiously, there is little indication the -A2s were significantly faster than the -A1s.

The ships cost about $3.1 million apiece.

Units in the Pacific:

Allied shipping was shifted from theater to theater as determined by the Combined Chiefs of Staff and records are not easily located concerning which ships were committed to the Pacific at what times. However, a completion schedule for these ships is available.

Month	East Coast	Portland	Sausalito

8/41	Corsicana
10/41	Caddo
1/42	Calusa
2/42	Catwaba
3/42	Gettysburg	Schenectady
5/42	Bunker Hill Caddo II
7/42	Trenton White Plains
8/42	Esso Manhattan
9/42	Ticonderoga
10/42	Monmouth Bennington
11/42	Cherry Valley Esso Wilmington Esso Washington Esso Patterson
12/42	Caribbean Esso Norfolk
1/43	Guilford Fort Lee Conastoga II
2/43	Vera Cruz Hobkirk's Hill Palo Alto Louisburg	Quebec
3/43	Arickaree Birch Coulie Churubusco Eutaw Springs Buena Vista Fort Necessity Fort Duquesne	Fort Moultrie Fort Washington
4/43	Buffalow Wallow San Antonio Cerro Gordo Contreras	Egg Harbor Stony Point
5/43	Camas Meadows Canyon Creek Pueblo Molino Del Ray Chapultapec Fort Niagra Charlestown	New London Brookfield Northfield Hadley Fallen Timbers
6/43	Cedar Mills Jalapa Perote Bloody Marsh Great Meadows	Pequiot Hill Fort Dearborn Queenstown Heights River Raison
7/43	Hat Creek Cross Keys Bull Run Ball's Bluff Appomattox Corinth	Fort Meigs Fort Stephenson York Fort George
8/43	Julesburg Little Big Horn McClellan Creek Seven Pines Chickamauga Monocacy Front Royal Kenesaw Mountain	Sackett's Harbor Stony Creek Lundy's Lane Fort Erie Plattsburg
9/43	Pine Ridge Power River Quemado Lake Rosebud Murfreesboro Winchester Lake George Crown Point	Lake Champlain Fort McHenry
10/43	Red Canyon Sappa Creek Abiqua Fort Laramie Gaines Mill Sharpsburg Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Mill Spring Fairfax McDowell Kittanning	Bladensburg Fort Sumter Fort Henry Fort Donelson White Oak Mechanicsville
11/43	Sweetwater Touchet Evans Creek Perryville Petersburg Spottsylvania Vicksburg Chantilly Lookout Mountain	Champoeg Oregon Trail Gervais Umatilla
12/43	Wagon Box Washita Skull Bar Brandy Station Harpers Ferry Manassas Missionary Ridge Opequon Fisher's Hill Cedar Creek Five Forks	Corvallis Klamath Falls Yamhill Owyhee Table Rock Wallowa Grande Ronde Coquille
1/44	Four Lakes Cayuse Fort Fetterman Malvern Hill	Jacksonville Meacham
2/44	Wolf Mountain Fort Bridger South Mountain Williamsburg Kernstown Santiago Hanging Rock	Nehalem Tillamook Pendleton Celilo
3/44	Wyoming Valley Apache Canyon Autossee White River Boundbrook Fort Schuyler Sag Harbor Hegra Frenchtown Esso Springfield Esso Portland Esso New Haven	Crater Lake Newberg Ochoco Ranier Battle Rock
4/44	Wood Lake Beaver Dam Wilson's Creek Blackstocks Ford Lyon's Creek Whitehorse Fort Conrwallis	The Dalles Glacier Park Grand Mesa Idaho Falls
5/44	Callabee San Juan Hill Port Royal James Island Catawba Ford Fort Cumberland Esso Utica Musgrove Mills Moor's Fields	Silverpeak Elk Basin Coulee Dam Tuolumne Meadows Camp Namanu Wolf Creek
6/44	Cahawba Horseshoe Bear Paw Platte Bridge Pocket Canyon Tule Canyon Karsten Wang Catham Esso Camden Esso Scranton Esso Memphis Lake Erie Point Pleasant	Donner Lake Scotts Bluff Tumacacori Chalmette Nickajack Trail Shawnee Trail
7/44	Wahoo Swamp White Bird Canyon El Caney Esso Roanoke Glorieta Cedar Mountain Ridgefield Kettle Creek	Bandelier Trailblazer Fort Winnebago Forbes Road Fort Charlotte
8/44	The Cabins Nordahl Grieg The Cottonwoods Mauvilla Hobkirk's Hill II Rich Mountain Groveton	Chaco Canyon Pipe Springs Fort Matanzas Verendrye Castle Pinckney Tonto
9/44	Barren Hill Bemis Heights Briar Creek Blackwater Turkey Island Drewry's Bluff Black Jack Diamond Island	Grand Teton Beacon Rock Hovenweep Swamp Island Montezuma Castle Smoky Hill Fort William Pioneer Valley Tampico Sandy Creek	Kettleman Hills Elk Hills Lost Hills
10/44	Camp Defiance Chatterton Hill Fort Stevens North Point Paulus Hook Quaker Hill Tullahoma Prarie Grove Valverde Chrysler's Field Edge Hill Lone Jack	Battle Mountain Fort Wood Hood River Blacks Hills Warrior Point	Antelope Hills
11/44	Red Bank Grand River Cottonwood Creek Little Butte Fort Ridgely Paou Pine Bluff Yellow Tavern La Mesa Waxhaws Champion's Hill	Pulpit Rock Fort Clatsop Laurel Hill Mesa Verde W.L.R. Emmet	Buena Vista Coalinga Hills Montebello Hills
12/44	Rogue River The Yakima Beecher Island Spring Hill Chesapeake Capes Bushy Run Wauhatchie Hubbardton French Creek	El Morro Casa Grande Pilot Butte Bryce Canyon Cedar Breaks Pinnacles Capitol Reef Rum River	Inglewood Hills Baldwin Hills McKittrick Hills Newhall Hills Rincon Hills
1/45	Ash Hollow Mobile Bay Pit River Fort Robinson Averysboro Allatoona San Pasqual Carnifax Ferry Salmon Falls	Joshua Tree Platt Park Stones River Fort Stanwix Fort Frederica Saguaro Chadd's Ford Fort Republic	Potrero Hills
2/45	Palo Duro Crow Wing Pawnee Rock Sandy Lake Piqua Fort Pitt Sideling Hill Marne New Market Somme Trevilian New Hope	Chisholm Trail Carlsbad Fort Christina Sunset Choctaw Trail	Sunset Hills Midway Hills Whittier Hills Signal Hills Ventural Hills
3/45	Blue Licks Golden Hill War Bonnett Chateau-Thierry Meuse-Argonne Cantigny Sedan Saint Mihiel Amiens Logan's Fort	White Sands Sullys Hill New Echota Muir Woods Big Bend	Puente Hills La Brea Hills Santa Maria Hills
4/45	Honningsvaag Kathio Spirit Lake Kaposia Royal Oak Winter Hill Santa Paula	Kings Canyon Salem Maritime Fort Lane Bradford Island	Kern Hills Elwood Hills Torrance Hills Santa Fe Hills
5/45	Chicaca Ackia Boonesborough Redstone Roxbury Hill Clarke's Wharf Hammerfest Cobble Hill Camp Charlotte	Homestead Fort Raleigh Modoc Point	Dominguez Hills Palmoa Hills Fullerton Hills
6/45	Council Grove Gold Creek Drapers Meadows Fort Caspar Castle's Woods Turner's Gap	Chemawa Grants Pass Steens Mountain	Belridge Hills Coyote Hills Huntington Hills
7/45	Dobytown Wagon Mound Phantom Hill Raton Pass Honey Hill Atlantic Refiner Atlantic Mariner	Council Crest Government Camp Multnomah Grays Harbor	Wheeler Hills

References

Lane (1951)

Spyrou (2006)

The T2 Tanker Page (accessed 2007-2-10)

Visser (2003; accessed 2013-3-30)
Wildenberg (1996)

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