US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Kenwood (IX-179) Class

S.S. Baldhill, an EFC Design 1045 tanker, on 9 March 1944
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        KENWOOD (IX-179)
Design        Tanker, 1916 (EFC Design 1045)
Displacement (tons):        4,233 light, ca. 13,000 full load
Dimensions (feet):        431.5' oa, 416.7' wl x 56.0' x 26.6'
Original Armament:        1-4"/50 1-3"/50 8-20mm (IX-179)
Later armaments:        1-5"/51 1-3"/50 8-20mm (IX-210)
Complement        70 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        9.5
Propulsion (HP):        2,800
Machinery:        1 screw, vertical triple expansion

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
179	KENWOOD	16 Nov 44	Bethlehem Steel, Quincy	--	21 Dec 15	6 Dec 44
210	SEA FOAM	15 May 45	Bethlehem Steel, Quincy	--	25 Jun 17	15 May 45

Disposition:

IX	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
179	KENWOOD	10 Jan 46	21 Jan 46	10 Jan 46	MC/D	2 Feb 48
210	SEA FOAM	8 Feb 46	26 Feb 46	8 Feb 46	MC/D	12 Dec 46

Class Notes:
FY 1944. TEXAS and PENNSYLVANIA were two of four 431-foot tankers named after states delivered to the Texas Oil Co. in 1916-17. They were followed in 1918 by two more 431-foot tankers built for a different firm, GEORGE W. BARNES and W. L. STEED, and then by an EFC order for six more 431-foot vessels completed in 1919. The design for these ships was designated EFC Design 1045.

-- IX-179: On 3 Jul 44 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended that two operating tankers be acquired as replacements for two Liberty tankers that had been converted to AW 1-2. See the IX-143 class for full details on this directive, which covered IX 178-179.

-- IX-210, plus IX 213-214 and 218-220: On 8 Jan 45 VCNO informed WSA that the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, had recently (in December) requested the assignment of six additional tankers to meet urgent requirements for mobile floating storage in the Pacific theaters of war. He requested three each for storage of clean and dirty products. VCNO noted that a Army, Navy, and WSA team that had recently returned from the Pacific reported that the floating storage tankers in the Pacific had served an indispensable purpose in providing mobile storage in areas where shore storage was necessarily limited, both because of lack of land space and because rapidly advancing operations made the construction of adequate shore storage impracticable. They team concluded that the assignment of additional floating storage was nothing short of a necessity. VCNO added that these floating storage tankers not only provided essential military storage but also provided ready and rapid means of bunkering WSA vessels serving the areas. VCNO acknowledged that the number of tankers not suitable for trans-ocean service (and therefore suitable for floating storage) had become very limited but urgently requested that six be provided at the earliest possible moment. On 23 Feb 45 the Auxiliary Vessels Board reported that three vessels considered suitable for this purpose and which had outlived their usefulness as commercial tankers had been nominated by WSA, PENNSYLVANIA at Portland, Ore., for storage of fuel oil and DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA and UTACARBON for storage of gasoline and/or diesel oil and that WSA was expected to name three more vessels in the near future. WSA came up with a fourth ship, E. T. BEDFORD, as IX-218 in April, but no candidates for IX 219-220 were nominated before the end of the war. On 19 Nov 45 BuShips asked CNO to cancel the authority to acquire IX 219-220 that had been provided by the Auxiliary Vessels Board report of 23 Feb 45 as approved by SecNav on 26 Feb 45. CNO forwarded the recommendation to SecNav on 29 Nov 45 and SecNav cancelled the authority on 5 Dec 45.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	Notes
179	KENWOOD	Ex merc. JOHREN, ex TEXAS 1944, ex APSHERON (USSR) 1944, ex TEXAS 1943 (ID-4539, completed Feb 16). Acquired at Brisbane, Australia. To MC at Subic Bay 1946 as JOHREN, to buyer 3 Mar 48 as KENWOOD and scrapped at Hong Kong (wrecked there 24 Oct 50).
210	SEA FOAM	Ex merc. PENNSYLVANIA (ID-1625, completed Jul 17). Acquired at Pearl Harbor. Merc. PENNSYLVANIA (MC) 1946. To buyer 9 Jul 47, scrapped by 4 Nov 47.