SS William Rockefeller
The William Rockefeller was an American oil tanker in 1942 sunk by a German U- boat. It was one of the largest tankers of his time.
Technology
The William Rockefeller was 174.6 meters long and 22.86 meters wide. The draft was 9.66 m, the displacement was 22,390 tons. The drive was carried out by two piston steam engines that worked on two propellers. The power was 4100 hp, top speed of 10.3 knots.
History
The first tanker " William Rockefeller " ( 7157 GT - 15,500 tons displacement ) in 1916, built in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was one of seven large tankers that were used by the U.S. Navy in August 1917. As USS William Rockefeller (ID # 1581) it has been integrated into the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, as this organization was founded on January 9, 1918. At this time he was on a journey from Scotland to New York, where he arrived on 12 February. After he received his cargo of oil in Philadelphia, the tanker went to New York, which he left in a convoy on 28 February with the destination port of Sheerness, England, where he arrived on March 18. Back in Philadelphia for a new load of fuel oil, he left New York in a convoy on 29 April and arrived in Lamlash, Scotland on May 15 a. Three days later she went to Rosyth with an escort of two destroyers. On May 21, 1918 William Rockefeller was torpedoed by the German submarine UC -58 and sank in 13 minutes. They lost three of their existing team of 51 people.
The second tanker of the same name was built by Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. It was named after the economic magnate William Rockefeller in 1921 and placed at Standard Oil in service. The sister ship was the " John D. Archbold ".
1927 the ship went into the possession of standard shipping, 1935 again was Standard Oil owner of the tanker, which sailed under the Panamanian flag.
It transported 135,000 barrels of oil from Aruba to New York City when it was taken on June 28, 1942 against 18.26 clock by German submarine U 701 under the leadership of Horst Degen with a torpedo. The tanker, which was accompanied by the USS CG -460 of the U.S. Coast Guard, ran a straight course at about 9.2 knots. The torpedo struck the port side of the pump room, crack amidships a hole of about 6 m in diameter in the outer skin and thus led to the flooding of the pump room and the tank No. 5 The leaking oil ignited and enveloped the ship's stern in flames, so that the occupation of board escaped. The nine officers, 35 crew members and six in charge of the cannon soldier (?) ( The ship was armed with a 3in gun ) left the ship in four lifeboats and were after 20 minutes taken up by the escort and the same afternoon at the Ocracoke Coast Guard station set on land. The submarine was unsuccessfully attacked by the escort aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard. The driving, burning wreck was sunk by a " coup de grace " in 35 ° 11N/75 ° 07W at 05.25 clock on June 29.