Esso Rotterdam (1) - (1947-1959)

Auke Visser´s ESSO Tankvaart Mij. Site | home

Dutch Esso Tankers - Album

Zie ook / See also :

Reparatie schroefnaaf "Esso Rotterdam (1)"	Status Cards
Turbo-Electric Machinery for Hills Class Tankers ( Part-1 )	Turbo-Electric Machinery for Hills Class Tankers ( Part-2 )
"Esso Rotterdam (1)" als "Phaethon"	"Esso Rotterdam (1)" als "Pyramid Veteran"
"Esso Rotterdam (1)" als "Cat No 1"	Algemene info / General info "Esso Rotterdam (1)"
Ship Construction and Engineering Drawings Marinship Co.	TTS Esso Rotterdam (1), 1945, Bemanningslijsten / Crew lists

Photograph of the bow art on the S. S. "Wheeler Hills" and the launch, July 14, 1945.

"Wheeler Hills", launched at 14 July 1945. Built in 64 days and 7 hours.

Contract Price : $2.686.140,00, Final Price: $1.732.889,47, savings : -35.49%.

Sponsor, at the launch, Mrs.P.R.Quick (wife of superintendent of the planning and progress division of Marinship).

"Wheeler Hills" just after the war.

"Esso Rotterdam (1)", ex. "Wheeler Hills” a colorized photo, source, location and date unknown.

"Esso Rotterdam (1)", ex. "Wheeler Hills” another colorized photo, source, location and date unknown.

The Miramar Ship Index for	WHEELER HILLS Design : T2-SE-A1
IDNo / IMO	5276836 USMC Hull number : MC-2541.
Year	1945
Name	WHEELER HILLS
Flag	USA
Owner	U.S. War Shipping Adm. (War Emergency Tanker, Inc., Mobile, AL., under GAA, Standard Oil Co., NJ., as agent).
Type	Tanker
Tons	10441
DWT	16613
LOA	159.6
LPP	153.3
Beam	20.7
Dept	11.93
Draft	9.20
Machinery	1TE-15
Power	6000 BHP
ShipDesign	T2-SE-A1
Builder	Marinship Corp.
Yard	Sausalito, California.
Yard No	87
Country built	USA
Keel	28.05.1945
Launch	14.07.1945
Completed	31.07.1945
Subsequent History	1946 WHEELER HILLS - Transferred to Reserve Fleet, for Lay-up, Beaumont, Texas. 1947a WHEELER HILLS - S.H. Richardson, agent for Marine Transport Line representing purchaser. 1947b ESSO ROTTERDAM - N.V. Petroleum Industries Maatschappij, The Hague, Netherlands. 1958 ESSO ROTTERDAM - Esso Tankvaart Maatschappij N.V., The Hague, Netherlands. 1959 PHAETHON - Comet Shipping Company S.A., Piraeus, Greece. 1960 PHEATON Lengthened & widened 172.5 m pp x 22.9 m, 15005 grt / 23000 dwt & Converted to bulk carrier, by NDSM, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1965 PHEATON - Comet Shipping Co., S.A., Monrovia, Liberia. 1974 PYRAMID VETERAN - Creole Shipping Ltd., Nassau, Bahamas. 1977 CAT No.1 - F.B.V. Corp., [Bahamas] Ltd., Nassau, Bahamas.
End	1978
Disposal Data	Sold to shipbreakers in USA. Arrived Brownsville, Texas 18 Apr. 1978 to be broken up. [By Consolidated Andy Inc.]

Commissioned at Marinship

The 32nd of a series of thirty-six 8250 hp turbo-electric tankers named for leading petroleum fields of California, the SS Wheeler Hills sailed away from the construction docks of Marinship Corporation on July 31, 1945.

The ship, named for the Wheeler Ridge oilfield located in Kern County, was put through her trial runs and accepted by the Maritime Commission trial board members only 64 days after keel laying.

Source : PACIFIC MARINE REVIEW, Volume 42, September 1945.

WHEELER HILLS

07.1945

1947: ESSO ROTTERDAM (1).

1959: PHAETHON.

1960: Converted to a bulk carrier. New midship section built by Netherlands Dock: &, SB Co, Amsterdam (measurements: 570 ft oa x 75 ft, 15,005 grt, 23,000 tdw).

1974 “PYRAMID VETERAN”

1977 “CAT No. I"

01.1979: Scrapped at New Orleans.

"Esso Rotterdam (1)", was build in 1945 as "Wheeler Hills".

Uit de Nieuwe Leidsche Courant, 14/04/1948.

Wist U dat de in Amerika aangekochte tankboot "Esso Rotterdam" van de A.P.C. voor het eerst Rotterdam binnenliep, meevoerende 14.500 liter stook- en dieselolie. ( Tonnen, bedoelde men natuurlijk, AAV )

Uit de Nieuwe Leidsche Courant, 06/03/1956.

KNSM-schip bij Spanje in moeilijkheden

Het SS "ILIAS" van de KNSM heeft vanochtend vroeg gemeld, dat het machineschade heeft en de hulp van een sleepboot behoeft. Het 810 ton metende schip bevond zich toen twintig mijl ten westen van Valino, een plaats aan de noordwestpunt van Spanje. De tankboot "ESSO ROTTERDAM" en een Zweeds schip liggen bij de "ILIAS".

"Esso Rotterdam (1)" full ahead underway to Rotterdam.

"Esso Rotterdam (1)", ex. "Wheeler Hills", just renamed.

"Esso Rotterdam (1)".

WHEELER HILLS. Type T2-SE-A1.

Yardnr. 87. USMC nr.2541. Official nr. 248398.

Keel laid 28-05-1945. Launched 14-07-1945. Completed 31-07-1945.

Gr. 11441 t., Net. 8766 t., Dw. 16613 t. L.o.a. 159,57 m., Br. 20,78 m., Dr. 9,20 m.

\Engine: 2 steam turbines, manufactured by Eliott & Company, Jeanette, Pennsylvania.

7240 B.h.p., 5401 kW. Speed 5 knots. 26 Tanks.

History:

WHEELER HILLS-1945 completed for United States War Shipping Administration, San Francisco, California, USA.

ESSO ROTTERDAM-1947 for N.V. Petroleum Industries Maatschappij, The Hague, Netherlands.

ESSO ROTTERDAM-1958 for Esso Tankvaart Maatschappij N.V., The Hague, Netherlands.

PHAETON-1959 for Comet Shipping Company S.A., Piraeus, Greece.

PHAETON-1965 for Comet Shipping Company S.A., Monrovia, Liberia.

PYRAMID VETERAN-1974 for Creole Shipping Ltd., Nassau, Bahamas.

CAT NO.1-1977 for F.B.V. Corporation [Bahamas] Ltd., Nassau, Bahamas.

Additional Reports:

Reported Phaeton lengthened, widened and converted in bulk carrier in 1960 at Nederlandsche Dok en

Scheepsbouw Maatschappij, Amsterdam.

New dimensions 8 Holds, 8 hatches: 8,0 6,4 8,0 8,0 8,0 8,0 8,0 8,0 x 10,6 m, 172,5m pp x 22,9m,

15005 gt / 23000 Dw.

Reported Cat No.1 sold to shipbreakers in USA. Arrived Brownsville, Texas 18 Apr. 1978

to be broken up. [ By Consolidated Andy Inc. ]