Requisitioned Ships: Illustrations
Merchant Shipbuilding Co. (ex Chester S.B.), Chester, Pa.
Requisitioned: 28 ships: Yard nos. 340-5, 350 (7), plus 21 as Design 1025.
The requisitioned precursors to the EFC designs are documented with those designs (q.v.).
Click on the photographs below to prompt larger views of the same images.
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S.S. Sudbury (Yard no. 340) Shown on a colorized post card being launched on 9 September 1917. She was delivered to the EFC, reconveyed to the Shawmut Steamship Co., and commissioned in the Navy on 5 March 1918. She was decommissioned on 17 April 1919. See her WWI page. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe from Wikipedia (2015) |
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S.S. Munbeaver, ex Sudbury (Yard no. 340) Serving with the Munson Steamship Line of New York between 1927 and 1938. She was the first of three ships ordered by the Shawmut Steamship Co., the others (Mystic and Ipswich, Yard nos. 347 and 348) being of the larger 9000-ton type that led to Design 1025. Photo No. None Source: www.photoship.co.uk (now defunct) |
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S.S. Phoenix, ex Autumnleaf (Yard no. 343) Fitting out afloat at the Chester yard on 11 June 1918. She had been launched on 31 May 1918 and was delivered to the EFC on 31 August 1918. Photo No. 165-WW-499A-123 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-165-WW |
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S.S. Overbrook, ex Springleaf (Yard no. 341) At the Chester yard on 13 April 1918 nearly complete. She was launched on 17 November 1917 and delivered to the EFC and her operator on 26 April 1918. She was the fourth in a class of eight 9000 ton dwt. tankers with cylindrical tanks developed by the yard. The first two, the Norwegian Malmanger and Golaa, were delivered to their owners before the others were requisitioned. The third, laid down and completed before Yard nos. 341-345, was Hisko, yard no. 350. Photo No. None Source: U.S. National Archives (RG-19-A-27) |
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S.S. Overbrook, ex Springleaf (Yard no. 341) Deck view looking forward while fitting out on 15 March 1918. Note the raised structure filling the well between the forecastle and bridge that accommodated the tops of the cylindrical cargo tanks. Photo No. 165-WW-493G-001 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-165-WW |
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S.S. Beta, ex Hisko (Yard no. 350) In a channel in the southeastern U.S. circa late 1941-early 1942. The first of this type to be built despite her higher yard number, she had been delivered to the EFC and commissioned in the Navy on 6 December 1917. She was decommissioned on 1 November 1919. Photo from Coast Guard files. See her WWI page. Photo No. Beta_513_005 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/513 |
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S.S. Alpha, ex Burnwell (Yard no. 345) Photographed on 20 June 1943 by a blimp from ZP-22 based at Houma, La. The navy had ordered her taken over on 23 October 1918 but cancelled those orders on 10 December 1918. Laid down on 2 January 1917, she spent over two years on the ways and was finally delivered to the EFC on 18 July 1919. Photo No. 80-G-271923 Source: U.S. National Archives (RG-80-G) |
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S.S. Chas. Kurz, ex Avondale, ex Summerleaf (Yard no. 342) Entering a U.S. port on 24 August 1943. This cylindrical tanker had been laid down on 29 August 1916, launched on 16 March 1918, and delivered to the EFC on 31 May 1918. The yard built its cargo ships much more quickly than it did these tankers. Photo No. CharlesKurz_895_003 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/895 |
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