EFC Design 1025 (Harriman type): Notes & Illustrations
Click here for larger and more complete plans: Sheet 1, Data. (Download for full size)
Click here for a similar plan from International Marine Engineering, February 1920: Sheet 1
Click here for a plan of Chester S.B. hulls 346 and 351-353 (with sheer) from I.M.E., December 1917: Sheet 1.
Click here for a plan of Chester S.B. hulls 349 and 356-370 less 364 (without sheer): Sheet 1.
Click on the photographs below to prompt larger views of the same images.
|
Notes: Chester Shipbuilding Co. In 1915 an English syndicate including the London mechanical engineer and former naval captain Charles P. M. Jack purchased the old John Roach shipyard at Chester, Pa. In late 1915 the yard secured orders for two 9000-ton geared turbine-propelled oil tankers with cylindrical tanks on Jack's system for Norwegian owners and a 7500-ton freighter (Sudbury, Yard no. 340) for American ownership. By March 1916 the company had added orders for six more 9000-ton tankers for foreign owners like the original pair, and by May 1916 the yard also had orders for seven 9000-ton cargo ships including one British (War Gun, requisitioned as Auburn, Yard no. 346), two French (Yard nos. 352-3), two American (347-8), one Norwegian (351), and one that became the prototype for the next batch (349). Although designed for fabricated production, these except for no. 349 retained the upward sheer at the ends of their decks of traditional ships. During 1916 the yard added two building ways for a total of seven. Lacking steel fabrication facilities of his own, Jack sought ways to build ships from parts fabricated in distant locations. He simplified hull designs to made as much use as possible of flat steel plates that could be punched and shaped and to some extent assembled and riveted by a fabricating shop ordinarily employed for bridge or tank work instead of in a shipyard. He also patented a type of cylindrical oil tank for tankers which could also be constructed by people other than shipbuilders. Jack contracted with the American Bridge Company in Pittsburgh, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, to supply the fabricated hull plates and the oil tanks for his ships. However he lacked the resources to fully exploit this technique, and in February 1917 the railroad magnate and banker W. Averell Harriman bought the Chester yard, keeping Jack as consulting engineer. Harriman added to the yard's facilities and secured private and export orders for 14 more cargo ships (Yard nos. 356-63 and 365-70) to be built there. These, plus Yard no. 349, were built to the Auburn design with the exception that they were without sheer in their decks except in the short poop and forecastle decks. In May 1918 an EFC contract (no. 316) was drafted for seven new cargo ships (EFC hulls 2668-74, Design 1078) to be built at Chester. Design 1078, possibly a refinement of Design 1025, had the same hull dimensions but measured 8700 instead of 9000 deadweight tons. This contract was not executed and was replaced on 17 January 1919 by one providing for the completion of the requisitioned ships still at Chester. After Harriman established the Merchant Shipbuilding Corp. to conduct his shipbuilding business, the Chester yard continued to operate under the Chester name until it was merged with Merchant on 29 July 1919. Taking note of Charles Jack's work with its subsidiary, American Bridge, the U.S. Steel Corporation established its own Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Kearny, New Jersey, in May 1917 and built 30 Design 1037 ships there with similar fabrication techniques. Merchant Shipbuilding Corp. (M.S.C.) On 13 July 1917 the first general manager of the EFC, General George W. Goethals, informed the chairman of the Shipping Board that his main reliance for getting the greatest amount of tonnage in the shortest time would be on the construction of fabricated steel ships of standard pattern. On 7 September 1917 the EFC contracted with Harriman's Merchant Shipbuilding Corp. to build a new shipyard at Bristol, Pa., optimized for the fabrication of 40 ships of 9000 deadweight tons, EFC 597-636, with an option for 20 more, EFC 1039-58. All 60 ships were to be built within a period of 18 months after completion of the yard. These ships were built to the Chester design, which became one of four cargo ship designs by shipbuilders that were reviewed and approved in late 1917 by Theodore E. Ferris, the EFC's naval architect and consulting engineer. Designated EFC Design 1025, it joined Designs 1022 (7500 tons), 1023 (5000 tons), and 1024 (8000 tons) as a "Standard Fabricated" type. Design 1025, the largest of the group, was a full-scantling 9000-ton freighter with two decks and three islands. The new shipyard was begun on 7 September 1917 and practically finished on 20 February 1918, and an entire village (named Harriman) for a population of 6,000 was built behind the yard. At Merchant Shipbuilding from 12 to 20 percent of the hull work on the ships was to be fabricated at the yard while the remainder was to be fabricated in outside bridge and structural shops. Two other shipyards, the Newburgh Shipyards at Newburgh, N.Y., and the Pensacola Shipbuilding Co. at Pensacola, Fla., also built contract ships to EFC Design 1025, while another two yards, the Dierks-Blodgett Shipbuilding Co. at Pascagoula, Miss., and the Merrill-Stevens Co. at Jacksonville, Fla., received similar contracts but were unable to build the ships. After the war the option for the additional 20 ships at Merchant Shipbuilding was cancelled, but the other 40 there along with the remaining requisitioned ships at Chester were completed in the unrealized expectation of a postwar shipping boom. Requisitioned Sisters: The 22 cargo ships at Chester (Yard nos. 340, 346-49, 351-53, 356-63, and 365-70) plus the 6 tankers there (Yard nos. 341-45 and 350) were requisitioned by the Shipping Board on 3 August 1917. The completion of the requisitioned ships still there in early 1919 (Yard nos. 344-49, 351-53, 356-63, and 365-70) was covered by a contract of 17 January 1919. These ships are covered in the Requisitioned Ships portion of the McKellar list. Specifications: Design 1025 (S.S. Cabegon, EFC Hull 597): Steel Cargo. Deadweight tons: 9000 designed, 8756 actual. Dimensions: 415' length oa, 401' pp x 54' beam mld. x 32.8' depth mld., 25.2' draft loaded. Propulsion: 1 screw, 1 Westinghouse turbine, 3 Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers, 3000 SHP, 11 kts. Configuration: 3-island, 2 decks, 5 holds, 5 hatches. |
| S.S. Winyah (Design 1025, EFC No. 605) photographed for her builder, the Merchant Shipbuilding Corp. (M.S.C.) of Harriman (Bristol), Pa., on 15 July 1919, probably departing for or returning from sea trials. She was delivered to the EFC on 19 July 1919. (NARA: RG-32-UB) (Click photo to enlarge) |
|
S.S. Wathena (Design 1025, Merchant, EFC Hull 598) Fitting out afloat at the M.S.C. yard at Harriman, Pa., on 13 December 1918. She was delivered on 1 February 1919. All of the contract-built Design 1025 ships except the last two at Newburgh had Westinghouse turbines and water tube boilers (Babcock & Wilcox or Foster) and were oil fired. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-UB |
 |
|
S.S. Watonwan (Design 1025, Merchant, EFC Hull 599) Fitting out afloat at the M.S.C. yard at Harriman, Pa., on 23 December 1918. She was delivered on 4 February 1919. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-S |
 |
|
S.S. Newburgh (Design 1025, Newburgh, EFC Hull 759) Photographed by her builder, the Newburgh Shipyards at Newburgh, New York, on 30 December 1918 a day before her delivery. Newburgh built ten ships of this type (EFC Hulls 759-762 and 1365-1370) with Westinghouse turbines and water tube boilers and followed them with two (EFC Hulls 2833-2834) with reciprocating engines and Scotch boilers. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-S |
 |
|
S.S. Auburn (As Design 1025, Chester, Yard no. 346) Probably photogaphed around the time of her delivery to the EFC by the Chester Shipbuilding Co. on 31 December 1918. This photograph was used in a 1925 EFC sales catalog to represent the ship, which in effect became the prototype for EFC Design 1025. She was ordered by the British and was the only one of the type to be coal instead of oil fired. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, S-528-A |
 |
|
S.S. Waubesa (Design 1025, Merchant, EFC Hull 600) Fitting out afloat at the M.S.C. yard at Harriman, Pa., on 7 January 1919. The top part of the funnel has not yet been installed. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-S |
 |
|
S.S. Waubesa (Design 1025, Merchant, EFC Hull 600) Fitting out afloat at the M.S.C. yard at Harriman, Pa., on 11 February 1919. She was delivered to the EFC on 22 February 1919. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-S |
 |
|
S.S. Newburgh (Design 1025, Newburgh, EFC Hull 759) In the port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on 18 February 1919 while bringing food to Europe after the end of World War I. Photo No. NH 106626 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
 |
|
S.S. New Windsor (Design 1025, Newburgh, EFC Hull 760) Photographed by her builder, the Newburgh Shipyards at Newburgh, New York, on 25 March 1919. She was delivered on 4 April 1919. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-S |
 |
|
S.S. New Windsor (Design 1025, Newburgh, EFC Hull 760) In a commercial port soon after entering service in a photograph from the ship's Navy inspection data (SP/ID) card. Photo No. NH 102064 Source: NHHC, and NARA RG-19-LCM |
 |
|
S.S. Lockport (As Design 1025, Chester, Yard no. 352) Probably photogaphed around the time of her delivery to the EFC by the Chester Shipbuilding Co. on 27 September 1919. This photograph was used in a 1925 EFC sales catalog to represent this ship along with Summerleaf and Terre Haute, Yard nos. 351 and 353. These three ships had Scotch boilers instead of the water tube boilers in the others. Like Auburn they were built with sheer at the ends of their decks, which was omitted in later ships of this type. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, S-528-A |
 |
|
S.S. Chester Kiwanis (As Design 1025, Chester, Yard no. 366) Probably photogaphed around the time of her delivery to the EFC by the Chester Shipbuilding Co. in July 1920. All of the later requisitioned Chester-built ships beginning with Texarkana (Yard no. 356) had Westinghouse turbines and Foster water tube boilers and were oil fired. Their decks, except for the poop and forecastle decks, were without sheer at the centerline to simplify construction. Photo No. NH 1345 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
 |
|
S.S. George E. Weed (As Design 1025, Chester, Yard no. 369) Photographed on 19 October 1920, in the month of her delivery to the EFC by the Chester Shipbuilding Co. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-UB |
 |
|
S.S. Ala (Design 1025, Merchant, EFC Hull 635) At the M.S.C. yard at Harriman, Pa., on 14 February 1921. This, the second to last ship built there, was delivered during February 1921. The flags flown at the mastheads (the one on the main being the USSB flag) are typical of those flown on builder's trials. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-A-27 |
 |
|
S.S. Beauregard, ex Yapalaga (Design 1025, Merchant, EFC Hull 629) Entering an American port on 7 April 1943. Photo No. Beauregard_5696_001 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/5696 |
 |
|
S.S. Campfire, ex Ipswich (As Design 1025, Chester, Yard no. 348) Departing an American port on 21 July 1943. Chester yard nos. 347 and 348 were privately ordered and may have differed in detail from the other Chester 8800 and 9000-ton ships. Photo No. Campfire_5732_001 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/5732 |
 |