The ''Chicopee''-class oilers were

oilers Oiler may refer to: Ships * Replenishment oiler * Tanker (ship) Sports * Cape Breton Oilers, a former American Hockey League team * City Oilers, Ugandan basketball team * Edmonton Oilers, a National Hockey League team based in Edmonton, Alberta, ...

operated by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. There were two ships of the class, and both survived the war.

Description

The class consisted of two

petroleum tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

s that had been ordered by

Standard Oil Company of New Jersey ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its roo ...

and were acquired by the U.S. Navy in early 1942. , the former ''Esso Trenton'', was acquired by the U.S. Navy shortly after launching, while , the former ''Esso Albany'', was acquired after making two voyages for Standard Oil.

Operational history

The ''Chicopee'' oilers both operated in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

areas from commissioning through late 1944, when they both were assigned to the

Pacific theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Both ships were returned to Standard Oil at decommissioning, and both were later converted to container ships. The extant portions of the hull of the ex-''Chicopee'', were scrapped in 1963, while the ex-''Housatonic'' was scrapped some time after 1989.

References

: * {{Chicopee class oiler Auxiliary replenishment ship classes Auxiliary ship classes of the United States Navy Auxiliary transport ship classes