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The T3 tanker, or T3, are a class of seaworthy large tanker ships produced in the United States and 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 ...
, gasoline or diesel before and during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The T3 tanker classification is still used today. The T3 tanker has a full load displacement of about 24,830 tons.


Design

T3 tankers are about in length and are able to sustain a top speed from . The T3 tanker is larger, and usually faster, than a T2 tanker. The hull designation AOG is used by the US Navy to denote that the ship is a T3 gasoline tanker. The AO designation denotes that the ship is a T3
fleet oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. Th ...
, also referred to as a
replenishment oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. The ...
(AOR). Most of the T3 ships were built for private companies and named by the manufacturer. Some T3 tankers were built for or sold to the US Navy, which were renamed after Native Americans, rivers and lakes. T3 tankers are operated by the US Navy, War Shipping Administration 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 ...
. The T3 tanker can carry from of oil. Some T3 tankers were used to transport other goods like black oil-crude oil and chemicals. T3s are also called liquid cargo carriers. The T3 tanker has a full load displacement of about 24,830 tons.National Park Service, Scotts Bluff
/ref> Each T3 has emergency life rafts on the boat deck. The ships have cargo booms and piping to load and unload fuel. During wartime, the T3 ships were armed for protection with
deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...
s, mainly for
anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
purposes. A typical ship may have one single /50 caliber dual-purpose gun, two guns and three single cannons. T3 ships normally carry 81 to 304 crew members. 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 US Navy Armed Guards to man the deck guns. The World War II T3-class tankers were considered large for their day, but are small compared to modern oil tankers. Among "supertankers", the ultra large crude carrier is over 300,000 metric tons and the very large crude carrier is over 200,000 metric tons. The
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...
brought up an urgent need for
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for Carrier-based aircraft, carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a ...
s. This led to some T3 tankers being converted to escort carriers. is an example of a T3 tanker,
hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
AO-33, that was rebuilt to be an escort carrier. The T3 tanker's size and speed made it a useful escort carrier. There were two classes of T3 hull carriers: the and es.


Designs

* T3-S-A1 tanker: Despite the confusing T3 designation, the T3-S-A1s built by
Bethlehem Sparrows Point Maryland Steel, in Sparrows Point, Maryland, US, was founded in 1887. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed as the Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries I ...
for
Standard Oil 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 ...
were identical to the original T2 tankers except for having less-powerful engines. 25 of this design were ordered by the Maritime Commission, of which 5 became US Navy oilers as the . Built by Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. (1939 design was a MC-N). * T3-S2-A1 tanker: A total of 17 were completed by: Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Maryland; Federal SB & DD Co. of Kearny, New Jersey; Newport News SB & DD Co. of Newport News, Virginia; and Sun SB & DD Co. of Chester, Pennsylvania. They were first commissioned by the US Navy in 1943 as the , with some converted to escort carriers (CVE). They had a crew of 304 and a range of . Armaments for AO-22 through 33 consisted of: 4 × 5-inch/38 caliber guns, 4 × twin 40 mm gun mounts and 4 × twin 20 mm gun mounts. AO-51 and later were armed with: 1 × 5-inch/38 caliber gun, 4 × 3-inch/50 caliber guns, 4 × twin 40 mm gun mounts and 4 × twin 20 mm gun mounts. * T3-S2-A3 tanker: Most of these tankers were " jumboized" in 1964–1965, extending the length from , consequently increasing the capacity, tonnage and draft. Jumboized ''Cimarron''-class oilers were reclassed as ''Ashtabula''-class oilers. Crew: 304 (US Navy) or 108 (civilians and US Navy guards). Armament: 1 × 5-inch/38-caliber gun, 4 × 3-inch/50-caliber guns, 4 × twin 40 mm antiaircraft guns and 4 × twin 20 mm antiaircraft guns. Ships in class: , , , , and . Built by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. * T3-S-AZ1 tanker: Only one in class: , built by Sun Ship, launched in August 1943. * T3-S-B tanker: Crew: 50 and 31 US Navy Armed Guards. Armament: 1 × 5-inch (130 mm) gun, 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun and 20 mm guns, commissioned 1943. Two sub classes: T3-S-BF1 and T3-S-BZ1: ** T3-S-BF1 Five built in 1943 and 1944: first in class , ''Bulklube'', ''Bulkfuel'', ''Bulkcrude'' and ''Bulkero'' by Welding Shipyards Inc. in Norfolk, Virginia. ** T3-S-BZ1 Completed three ships: SS ''Phoenix'', SS ''Nashbulk'' and SS ''Amtank''. Built in 1943 and 1944 by Welding Shipyards Inc. in Norfolk, Virginia.


Notable incidents

* USS ''Pan Pennsylvania'', a Type T3-S-BF1 tanker, on 16 April 1944 was sunk off Nantucket by a torpedo from U-boat commanded by Klaus Hänert. ''Pan-Pennsylvania'' was steaming from New York Harbor on the afternoon of 15 April 1944 as part of convoy CU-21, going to England with of 80-octane
aviation fuel Aviation fuels are petroleum-based fuels, or petroleum and synthetic fuel blends, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground use, such as heating and road transport, and contain additives to enhance ...
. She had a crew of 50 men and 31 members of the
Naval Armed Guard United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War II and headquartered in New Orleans.World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine, 2007-2014 Project Liberty Ship, Project Liberty Ship, P.O. Box ...
. The 28 merchant ships of CU-21 were accompanied by Escort Flotilla 21.5, which consisted of six
destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...
s. * , a T3-S2-A1 tanker, on 20 November 1944 was sunk near Ulithi Island after being hit by a Japanese ''
Kaiten were crewed torpedoes and suicide craft, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II. History In recognition of the unfavorable progress of the war, towards the end of 1943 the Japanese high command considered ...
'' manned torpedo. * USS ''Shabonee'', a T3-S-A1 tanker, was sold to the US Navy and renamed USS ''Escalante'' (AO-70). In 1947 she was sold and renamed SS ''George MacDonald''. On 30 June 1960 she sank east of Savannah, Georgia after an engine fire on 27 June. * ''Lake Charles'', a T3-S-A1 renamed ''Capri'', ran aground on Molasses Reef, Florida (25.07 N, 80.22 W) on 27 April 1963. She was a total loss. * ''Brandywine'', a T2-SE-A1 renamed ''Atlantic Sun'', was damaged in 1962 and scrapped. * ''Phoenix'', a T3-S-BZ1, first in her class, was badly damaged in a collision with ''Pan Mass'' on 6 June 1953, resulting in a total loss.


See also

*
T1 tanker The T1 tanker or T1 are a class of sea worthy small tanker ships used to transport fuel oil before and during World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. The T1 tanker classification is still in use today. T1 tankers are about in length and are ...
the smallest in the T class * T2 tanker the middle-sized and most-produced T class * History of the oil tanker *
Victory ships The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were sli ...
* Liberty ship *
Type C1 ship Type C1 was a designation for small cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original ...
*
Type C2 ship Type C2 ships were designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in 1937–38. They were all-purpose cargo ships with five holds, and U.S. shipyards built 328 of them from 1939 to 1945. Compared to ships built before 1939, the C2s we ...
*
Type C3 ship Type C3-class ships were the third type of cargo ship designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in the late 1930s. As it had done with the Type C1 ships and Type C2 ships, MARCOM circulated preliminary plans for comment. The desi ...
* United States Merchant Marine Academy *
United States Navy oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. The ...
* List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy


References

*
hazegray.org, Ships of Mare Island


External links






''Waccamaw'' – AO 109
{{Subject bar , portal1=World War II , portal2=Transport Type T3 tankers United States Merchant Marine World War II merchant ships of the United States Ship types World War II tankers of the United States