The T1 tanker or T1 are a class of

sea worthy Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea stat ...

small tanker

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

s used to transport

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

before and 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 ...

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. The T1 tanker classification is still in use today. T1 tankers are about in length and are able to sustain a top speed of about . The hull designation AO is used by the US Navy to denote the ship is a T1 oil tanker and AOG that the T1 is a

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

tanker. The small size allows the T1 to enter just about any sea port or to anchor around a small island, this was very useful during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. The T1 tanker can carry about 48,000 to 280,000 bbls. Some T1 tankers were used to transport goods other than oil, a few were used for black oil-crude oil,

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

, chemicals and rarely

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/ crude oi ...

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

. T1 tankers are also called liquid cargo carriers. The T1 tanker has about a 6,000 to 35,000

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provi ...

(DWT) of cargo. The small size also gives the ships short turn around time for repair, cleaning, loading and unloading. A T1 tanker carrying dirty cargo, like crude oil needs a few weeks of labor to clean before carrying clean cargo. Most T1 ships during World War II were named after major

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

s. T1 tankers are operated by the

US 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 of ...

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime Co ...

and

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

. Some T1s were loaned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the

Lend-Lease program Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

for World War II, after the war most were returned to the US. After World War II many of the T1 ships were sold to for civilian use. Each T1 had emergency life rafts on the boat deck. The ships had cargo booms and piping to load and unload fuel. During war time the T1 are armed for protection with deck guns. A typical ship may have one single 3"/50 dual purpose gun, two 40 mm guns and three single Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. A T1 at war time normally had a crew of 38 and up to 130. If operating as a

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

ship, the crew would be a mix of civilian Merchant Marines and United States Navy Armed Guards to man the guns.

US classes

*T1-M-A1 tanker: Called a small Coastal tanker, Includes the . Diesel powered 800 hp, 10 knots max. Tonnage Deadweight: 1,600, Tonnage Full Load: 2,900, Dimensions: 221 feet long, Width 37 ft, First Navy commissioning in 1943. Built by: Barnes-Duluth SB Co. of Duluth, Minnesota. A total of eight T1-M-A1 tankers were completed for World War II. ''Clearwater''/ built in 1943 and USS ''Tongue River''/''Pasquotank'' built in 1943. ''Spindletop'', ''Cotton Valley'', ''Rouseville'', ''Golden Meadow'' built by Lancaster Ironworks, Perryville, Maryland. ** Barnes-Duluth Shipbuilding, MN: 12 ** Todd Galveston, TX: 8 ** Lancaster Iron Works, MD: 4 **

East Coast Shipyards East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

, NJ: 2 ** 2 of 34 s *** , *T1-M-A2 tanker: Includes the , 221 ft, diesel powered 800 hp, 10 knots max., Deadweight: 1,453 Full Load: 2,700, dimensions: 220'6" long, Width 37 ft, Max. depth 12 ft 10 in. First Navy commissioning in 1943. Gasoline tanker, AOG, built by East Coast Shipyards Inc. of Bayonne, New Jersey. First ship . **

, NJ: 28 ** Todd Galveston, TX: 4 ** 32 of 34 s *** ... *** ... *T1-MT-BT1 tanker: ''Klickitat'' class, Gasoline tankers, first in class . Diesel powered 1,700 hp, 11 knots max., Deadweight: 4,000, full load: 5,970, dimensions: 325 ft 4 in long, Width 48 ft, Max. depth 19 ft, Diesel 10,465 bbls, Gasoline 871,332 gals, Crew: officers 8, enlisted 72. First Navy commissioning in 1945. Built by St. John's River SB Corp. of Jacksonville, Florida. Total T1-M-BT1 gasoline tankers-AOG completed 12. Third ship **

St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company The St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company was created in Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville, Florida during World War II to build Liberty ships. Company history The company was established by local shipbuilder and repairer Merrill-Stevens Drydock ...

, FL: 12 ** 12 of 12 *** ... *T1-M-BT2 tanker: ''Tonti'' class and ''Rincon'' class Gasoline tanker. First in class and . ''Tonti'' class: Diesel electric 1018 hp, 11 knots max., Deadweight: 4933 LT, Carry 30,122 bbls, dimensions: 301.8 ft long, Width 60.92 ft, Max. depth 22.55 ft. First Navy commissioning in 1945. ''Rincon'' class: Gasoline diesel engine, 10 knots max., 6,047 long tons (6,144 t) (light) 325 ft long, width 48 ft, Max. depth 19 ft, Crew 38. **

Todd Houston Shipbuilding Vigor Shipyards is the current entity operating the former Todd Shipyards after its acquisition in 2011. Todd Shipyards was founded in 1916, which owned and operated shipyards on the West Coast of the United States, East Coast of the United St ...

, TX: 14 **

J.A. Jones Construction J.A. Jones Construction was a heavy construction company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Operating internationally since the 1950s, it merged with Germany's Philipp Holzmann AG in 1979. In 2003 the company ceased operations due to the ...

Panama City, FL: 6 *T1-MT-M1 tanker: Diesel electric system, Twin screws, 14 knots max., Capacity 680,000 gallons in 10 tanks about 2,000 tons, dimensions: 310 ft 9 in long, Width 48 ft 7 in, Max. depth 15 ft 0 in. Crew: World War II: 7 officers 120 enlisted, Vietnam: 7 officers 80 enlisted. First in class . **

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in ter ...

, MN: 18 ** Todd Tacoma Shipyard, WA: 5 ** 23 of 23 *** ... *** ... *T1-S-C3: tanker steam powered 2,500 hp, 11 knots, single propeller, 14,245 LT displacement, 441.5 ft long, 57 ft wide, 27 ft 9 in draft, Capacity: 8,500 t. Oil 63,000 bbls, crew: 81. Z-ET1-S-C3 tankers were built by California Shipbuilding in Los Angeles, California. The ET1-S-C3 tankers were built by Delta Shipbuilding in New Orleans, Louisiana. First in class . *T-AOG-81 tanker: The ''Alatna'' class small T1 tanker. ''Alatna''-class gasoline tankers. The class is named after the first ship , launched in 1956. The other ship in the class is . ''Alatna'' class has: diesel electric engines with two shafts, 3,200 hp, 13 knots max., displacements: 2,367 t (LT) 5,720 t (full load), Carry 30,000 bbls dimensions: 302 ft long, width 61 ft, max depth 23 ft. Crew of 51. USS Patapsco (AOG-1)

USS Chehalis (AOG-48) at anchor, circa in 1944 (NH 83319)

Other T1 type ships

* * * * * * * * *

Type 626 tanker The Fuzhou-class tanker (as designated by NATO) is a class of auxiliary ship in the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or ...

* * Type 631 replenishment tanker

Notable incidents

* ''Sulphur Bluff'' a T1-M-A1, renamed ''Punta Ciguena'' sank on 7 February 1960 at

Rio Uruguay The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...

river in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. She was raised, repaired and renamed ''Dona Isabel''. * , a T1-MT-M1, exploded while in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, caught fire and sank in 1949. * , a T1-M-A2, ran aground and sank during Typhoon Louise at

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 17 September 1945. She was raised, repaired and renamed ''Gravatai'' which sank again in 1970. * , a T1-M-BT1, renamed ARA ''Punta Delgada'' which sank in 1985. * ''Nodaway'', a T1-M-BT1, renamed ''Dynafuel'' sank in a collision with SS ''Fernview'' in 1963 at

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. * MS '' Avoca'', a T1-M-BT1, renamed ''Petaluma'' then caught fire and sank on 30 October 1951 after an explosion in the engine room in the

Gulf of St. Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence () is the outlet of the North American Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. The gulf is a semi-enclosed sea, covering an area of about and containing about of water, at an average depth of . ...

. * ''Sebasticook'', a T1-M-BT1, renamed '' Mexia'', then ''Kwang Lung'' caught fire and sank on 5 April 1961 at

Kaohsiung Harbor The Port of Kaohsiung (POK; ) is the largest harbor in Taiwan, handling approximately 10.26 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) worth of cargo in 2015. The port is located in southern Taiwan, adjacent to Kaohsiung City, and surrounded by t ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. The fire-fighting party from help put the fire out, but she still sank, spilled a million gallons of gasoline. * , a T1-M-A2, was renamed ''Maumee Sun''. Damaged in a collision with MV ''American Pilot'' in November 1965 and then scrapped. came to her aid after the collision. * ''Tarantella'', a T1-M-BT2, renamed MV ''Esso Regulus'' was wrecked after running aground on

Mengalum Island Mengalum Island ( ms, Pulau Mengalum) is an island located on the West Coast Division of Sabah in the South China Sea on Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of ...

in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

near Malaysia. on 15 January 1976, she was later scrapped in Hong Kong. * USS ''Klickitat'', a T1-M-BT1, renamed ''Capitan'' was wrecked in 1948, repaired and renamed MV ''Punta Loyola''. She was sold and renamed MV ''Alkene'', but wrecked again in 1974 off the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. wrecksite.eu, MV ''Alkene''
/ref>

References

{{Subject bar , portal1=World War II , portal2=War Type T1 tankers Type T1 tankers of the United States Navy United States Merchant Marine World War II merchant ships of the United States Ship types World War II tankers of the United States

US classes

Other T1 type ships

Notable incidents

See also

References