US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Vandalia (IX-191) Class

S.S. E. T. Bedford, later USS Guardoqui (IX-218) circa 1940
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        VANDALIA (IX-191)
Design        Tanker, 1916
Displacement (tons):        4,500 light, 22,491 full load
Dimensions (feet):        516.5' oa, 500' wl x 68.1' x 28.7' full load
Original Armament:        1-4"/50 1-3"/50 8-20mm (IX-191)
Later armaments:        2-3"/50 8-20mm (IX-218)
Complement        70 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        10.5
Propulsion (HP):        3,500
Machinery:        2 screws, vertical triple expansion (diesel in IX-218)

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
191	VANDALIA	23 Dec 44	Federal SB & DD, Kearny	--	9 Feb 21	23 Dec 44
218	GUARDOQUI	23 Jun 45	Federal SB & DD, Kearny	--	17 May 21	23 Jun 45

Disposition:

IX	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
191	VANDALIA	20 Nov 45	5 Dec 45	9 Oct 45	Lost	10 Feb 48
218	GUARDOQUI	13 Feb 46	12 Apr 46	13 Feb 46	MC/D	12 Dec 46

Class Notes:
FY 1944. In 1916-17 Newport News SB & DD delivered six large flush-decked 516-foot tankers, five of them to the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey and one (which later became USS PASIG, AO-89) to the Atlantic Refining Co. The Bethlehem Steel Co. delivered four more to Standard Oil of New Jersey, two from its Sparrows Point, Md., yard and two from its San Francisco yard (the former Union Iron Works). In 1921 Newport News delivered two more to a different buyer while Federal SB & DD at Kearny, N.J., delivered three to Standard Oil of New Jersey, including WALTER JENNINGS and E. T. BEDFORD, and two to the Imperial Oil Co. E. T. BEDFORD was re-engined in 1926 with two Busch Sulzer diesels (3,000 BHP). In 1918 Newport News also built for Standard Oil of New Jersey two ships to a similar but smaller 477-foot design, H.M. FLAGLER and F.D. ASCHE. These in turn were the prototypes for eight ships built for the Shipping Board in 1919-20 and taken into the Navy as the PATOKA (AO-9) class.

-- IX-191: On 12 Aug 44 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended that 6 tankers suitable for use as mobile storage tankers be acquired at a rate of one a month beginning in September. See the IX-137 class for full details on this directive, which covered IX 188-193.

-- IX 218: On 23 Feb 45 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended that the three commercial tankers that became IX-210, 213, and 214 be acquired for use as storage tankers and that three other similar vessels also be acquired. E. T. BEDFORD was selected as IX-218 in April 1945. See the IX-179 class for full details on this directive.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	Notes
191	VANDALIA	Ex merc. WALTER JENNINGS (ID-4724, completed Mar 21). Acquired at Pearl Harbor. Grounded by typhoon at Naha, Okinawa, 9 Oct 45, and declared constructive total loss. Wreck delivered to buyer 19 Feb 48, scrapped prior 31 Jan 52.
218	GUARDOQUI	Ex merc. E. T. BEDFORD (ID-4700, completed Jun 21). Acquired at Pearl Harbor. Merc. E. T. BEDFORD (MC) 1946. To buyer 28 Jan 47, scrapped by 10 Oct 47.