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ONE WARTIME MASTER
SS Esso Scranton.
Captain August Randall, one of the Company's senior masters, was assigned to the command of the turbo-electric tanker Esso Scranton on June 7, 1944, two days after the ship's launching, and before her delivery to the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey on June 20 under purchase agreement with the United States Maritime Commission. Captain Randall remained in command throughout the Esso Scranton's wartime service and until December 20, 1945, more than three months after V-J Day.
The SS Esso Scranton was built in 1944 by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Chester, Penna. She is a sistership of the Esso Camden, Esso Memphis, Esso New Haven, Esso Portland, Esso Roanoke, Esso Springfield, and Esso Utica.
A single-screw vessel of 16,610 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 30 feet, 2 inches, the Esso Scranton has an overall length of 523 feet, 6 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 503 feet, a moulded breadth of 68 feet, and a depth moulded of 39 feet, 3 inches. With a cargo carrying capacity of 138,335 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate of 7,000 barrels an hour.
Her turbo-electric engine, supplied with steam by two water-tube boilers, develops 7,240 shaft horsepower and gives the Esso Scranton a classification certified speed of 14.6 knots.
The Esso Scranton, under Government control from the day of her delivery, was assigned to United Kingdom service and had completed tour War Shipping Administration voyages in this trade by November 19, 1944. On her maiden trip. Chief Engineer George H. Ulmer was in charge of the tanker's engineroom. She left Chester on June 23, 1944, lifted gasoline and Pool vaporizing oil (totaling 118,434 barrels) at Trinidad terminals and returned to New York to load deck cargo before proceeding to Avon-mouth, in the Bristol Channel. The deck cargo for this voyage consisted of eight P-47 (Thunderbolt) Arrny pursuit plane fuselages and eight boxes of wing assemblies. The Esso Scranton completed the return leg pf her maiden voyage at New York on August 5, 1944.
Busy Ship.
Subsequently, with her other three United Kingdom cargoes, the tanker carried a total of 22 disassembled planes-sixteen P-38 (Lightning) and six P-51 (Mustang) -15' boxed units of Army technical devices, and 122 belly tanks in crates.
The Esso Scranton loaded her second bulk cargo (120,921 barrels in two grades) at New York, discharged part of the Pool burning oil at Finnart, Scotland, on the Clyde, and the rest of it, plus all the 80 octane gasoline, at Ellesmere Port, in the Mersey Ship Canal. She returned to New York on September 5, 1944. The third cargo, 87 octane and 100 octane gasoline from New York, went to Liverpool. The fourth and last United Kingdom cargo, also taken to Liverpool, consisted of 34,118 barrels of Pool gasoline loaded at The Texas Company's Claymont, Delaware, terminal and 87,390 barrels of aviation gasoline lifted from the Sun Oil Company's terminal at Marcus Hook, Penna.
Between July 22, when the Esso Scranton first arrived at Avonmouth, and November 6, 1944, when she left Liverpool for the last time during the war, the new tanker delivered a grand total of 490,122' barrels, largely high octane gasoline. This period of her service lasted roughly from the consolidation of the Normandy beachhead until the opening of the port of Antwerp by Allied armies on November 27, which overcame the acute shortage of port facilities for the supply of the Allies' extended military lines in Europe.
Sailing orders, dated October 13 and 16, 1944, had instructed Captain Randall to take on bunkers sufficient for a voyage to the United Kingdom and return to a United States port. During November, however, the Esso Scranton was diverted to Aruba, where she arrived on November 19 to load cargo for the Southwest Pacific in Navy service. The lifting consisted of Navy Diesel and fuel oils, totaling 110,052 barrels, and on November 24 the Esso Scranton comr pleted transit of the Panama Canal at Balboa, en route to the Pacific. The vessel put in at Langemak Bav for orders and arrived on December 21 at Hol-landia, New Guinea, where she discharged all her fuel oil into the USS Clyde (AO 144) and her Diesel oil into two other vessels, one of which was the USS Seekonk (AOG 20).
More Pacific Voyages.
Following her return to Aruba on January 29, 1945, the Esso Scranton made two more voyages to the Pacific—one to Ulithi, via Eniwetok, and another to Saipan, just about a year after the first landings there. The ship carried Navy Diesel and fuel oils, totaling 111,217 barrels, in her tanks when she arrived at Eniwetok on February 22. She discharged some of her Diesel fuel into the USS Beagle (IX 112) and two Navy barges. The tanker reached Ulithi on March 3 and finished pumping out her cargo into the USS Cacapon (AO 52), USS Sepulga (AO 20), and Navy barge YO 79.
For the voyage to Saipan, the Esso Scranton loaded 109,658 barrels of Navy Diesel and fuel oils at Aruba. She arrived at Saipan, in the Marianas, on May 7 and discharged her fuel oil into the USS Flambeau (AO 192)-formerly the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey tanker S. B. Hunt-and two Navy barges. On May 8, the Esso Scranton proceeded to dock and pumped her Diesel oil into Navy barges YO 174 and YO 185. On May 9 she completed discharge of cargo and on May 10 began sea passage for her return to the Panama Canal.
In an interview for this history regarding conditions on Saipan, Second Assistant Engineer Charles W. Hardy said: "Jap raiding parties came down from the hills every few days. The night before we arrived, they had raided one of the houses for food."
After the Esso Scranton returned from Saipan she was ordered to Cartagena; reaching there on June 5, 1945, the tanker loaded Colombian crude oil for New York. At New York between June 10 and 23 she completed necessary repairs and then was allocated by sailing orders of June 20 to continuous service with the Navy. On June 30 she left Beaumont, Texas, with a part cargo of 92,223 barrels of special Navy fuel destined for the Central Pacific. At Balboa, the Esso Scranton loaded additional Navy fuel oil for Manus, Admiralty Islands, where the vessel arrived July 29. The port log indicated that she discharged her full cargo through shore lines varying in length from 450 yards to three-quarters of a mile. The shore tanks were at various elevations and no booster pumps were used.
From Manus, the Navy ordered the Esso Scranton to Abadan, where, on August 23, she started to load a full cargo of special Navy fuel oil. Departing on August 26, the tanker went to Darwin, Australia, for orders and was directed to proceed to Leyte, Philippine Islands. She reached Leyte on September 18, about two weeks after V-J Day, and discharged her Abadan cargo.
The World War II transportation record of the Esso Scranton was in summary as follows:
Associated with Captain Randall and in charge of the Esso Scranton's engineroom during the war were Chief Engineers George H. Ulmer, Clyde P. Williams, Reginald E. Harris, and John T. Anderson.
Below is quoted an official letter of commendation received by the Company, which refers to Captain Randall:
UNITED STATES FLEET Headquarters of the Commander in Chief NAVY DEPARTMENT Washington 25, D. C.
25 October 1944
From: Commander, TENTH Fleet.
To: War Shipping Administration, Washington, D. C.
Subject: Convoy UC-39B, report on. Reference: (a) CTU 21.8.1 conf. serial 044, of 12 October 1944.
1. The following excerpt from reference .(a) is quoted below for information:
"The conduct of the convoy was excellent. The commodore was the master of the Esso Scranton who handled the convoy very efficiently."
M. K. Metcalf,
By direction.
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See the official Convoy CU-31 book, with wrong name, below ;
Line 6 on page 1, enlarged ;
Page 2 ;
