Ocean (tanker type)

The Ocean type , also known as the Three twelves type , was a series tanker type that was built in British shipyards during the Second World War . The tankers belong to the group of Empire ships .

details

The design of the Ocean-type standard tanker was based on the Three twelves type from Shell . The latter was developed in the early 1930s and built in large numbers for Shell / Anglos-Saxon Petroleum Company. The designation Three twelves type (English about Drei Zwölfer Typ ) was derived from three key data of the type - it had a load capacity of around 12,000 tons, reached a speed of twelve knots and consumed twelve tons of fuel per day. The arrangement of the ships with superstructures slightly forward of amidships and the engine room aft was similar to that of contemporary tankers.

In 1941/42, 34 Ocean-type units were built. The ships were built with different propulsion systems, some with diesel engines, the other with triple expansion steam engines. In addition to the pure transport of oil, the ship type was also used during the war years to supply other ships with fuel at sea. For camouflage, numerous units of the type were provided with inoperative loading harnesses on deck, which should make them look like conventional dry freighters from a distance.

literature

• Mitchell, WH; Sawyer, LA: Empire Ships of World War II . Sea Breezes, Liverpool 1965.
• Standard tanker of the Second World War in: Die Seekiste 2/1951, p. 94/95