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Manhattan - (1969-1976)
See also : More photos Manhattan See also : WORLDS LARGEST OIL TANKER IN SEA TRIALS ( TS Manhattan-1962 )
"Manhattan" before she was rebuild for the trip to Alaska.
"Manhattan" build in 1962.
Drawing rebuilding "Manhattan".
Reconstruction of the "Manhattan".
"Manhattan" after rebuilding.
"Manhattan".
"Manhattan" during the Polar voyage.
( Photo collection Jan Goedhart )
"Manhattan" after her Polar voyages as a crude carrier.
"Manhattan".
Bow of the "Manhattan".
"Manhattan", with ice-breaking bow photographed at Ras Tanura mid 1970's.
( Photo Copyright Gary McDanielsen )
The Miramar Ship Index for "MANHATTAN"
IDNo:
|
5219369
|
Year:
|
1962
|
Name:
|
MANHATTAN
|
Keel:
|
|
Type:
|
Tanker
|
Launch Date:
|
18.12.1961
|
Flag:
|
USA
|
Date of completion:
|
|
Tons:
|
65740
|
Link:
|
-
|
DWT:
|
108588
|
Yard No:
|
1679
|
Length overall:
|
286.6
|
Ship Design:
|
|
LPP:
|
271.9
|
Country of build:
|
USA
|
Beam:
|
40.2
|
Builder:
|
Bethlehem
|
Material of build:
|
|
Location of yard:
|
Quincy
|
Number of screws/Mchy/Speed(kn):
|
2ST-17.5
|
|
|
Subsequent History:
[ 1969 rebuilt as icebreaking tanker, 306.5 / 290.9 x 45.0 mtr, 65740grt / 124000 dwt ]
Disposal Data:
Scrapped at China 09.1987.
History :
ON
|
LR/IMO
|
ID
|
Year
|
Name
|
Tons
|
Change
|
Registered Owner
|
|
5219369
|
5219369
|
1962
|
MANHATTAN
|
65740
|
-
|
Manhattan Tankers Co. Inc.
|
Notes :
"Esso Manhatten". Built 1962 by Bethlehem S.B. Corp, Quincy.
Pre 1969, 108590dwt, 940ftx132ft 6insx52ft 9ins,
Lengthened 1969.
After 1969, 114668dwt, 1005ft 6insx132ft 6insx52ft 9ins. 60209gt, 42383net,
Owned by Manhattan Tankers Co Inc, Wilmington, Del. (mgr Hudson Waterways Corp)
1976 management cancelled.
1987 driven aground at Yosu 15/7/1987 during passage of typhoon “Thelma”, refloated 27/7/1987.
Sold to Hong Kong interests “as lies”.
Re-sold to Chinese breakers.
Left Yosu in tow 1/9/1987 & arrived at breakers yard prior to 6/9/1987.
At no time was she noted in Lloyds register to have carried the prefix Esso.
Additional Information ;
TSS Manhattan.
Tanker (1f/3m) L/B/D: 940 × 132 × 52 (286.5m × 40.2m × 15.8m) Tons: 115,000 dwt
Hull: steel
Comp: 60-126
Mach:steam turbine, 43,000 shp, 2 screws; 17 kts
Built: Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass.; 1962.
Prompted by the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska in 1968, the Humble Oil & Refining Company and Atlantic
Richfield Company decided to test the feasibility of transporting oil via ship through the Northwest Passage. They chartered the tanker
Manhattan and sent her to the Sun Shipyard at Chester, Pennsylvania, for conversion to an icebreaker. The world's largest commercial ship
when commissioned, Manhattan had had a checkered career as a tanker because her deep draft forced her either to sail light or to transship
her cargoes outside of port. In preparation for her Arctic voyage, Manhattan was cut into four sections, each of which was modified for work
in the ice. When reassembled, the ship had grown 65 feet in length and 16 feet in beam.
On August 24, 1969 (exactly one month after Apollo 11 returned to Earth from the first manned lunar landing), Manhattan sailed from Chester
with 112 crew, scientists, and journalists. Escorted by the Canadian icebreaker John A. Macdonald, on September 5 she sailed west across
the top of Baffin Island into Lancaster Sound. Stopped by the ice about 50 miles into McClure Strait between Melville and Banks Islands, on
September 10, Manhattan's Captain Arthur W. Smith executed a U-turn and headed south to pass through Prince of Wales Strait between
Banks and Victoria Islands and entered Amundsen Sound on September 14. Turning west along the coast of continental Canada, Manhattan
arrived five days later at Prudhoe Bay where she took aboard a symbolic cargo of one barrel of oil. On the 21st, she reached Point Barrow, her
western terminus. During the return voyage, engineers conducted tests to determine the machinery requirements needed for commercial
navigation through the ice. Exiting Lancaster Sound on October 30, Manhattan returned to New York on November 12. Although her success
showed that the voyage was physically possible, the route was neither environmentally nor economically sound, and it was decided to build a
trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez on Prince William Sound. Manhattan resumed regular service again until 1987. Laid up off Yosu, South
Korea, she was scrapped after grounding in a typhoon.