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|
 ONI 222 |
| Tonnage | 24,830 tons fully loaded |
| Dimensions | 553' by 75' by 32' 168.6m by 22.9m by 9.8m |
| Maximum speed | 18 knots |
| Complement | 315 |
| Armament | 4 5"/38
dual
purpose guns 4 0.50 machine guns |
| Protection |
STS splinter protection only
around guns, handling rooms, and bridge |
| Machinery |
2-shaft geared turbine
(12,000
shp) 4 Babcock and Wilcox boilers |
| Capacity | 147,150 barrels |
| Modifications |
Late 1942: Light antiaircraft
upgraded to 1x2 1.1"
AA guns, 6x1 20mm
Oerlikon AA guns. 1944: Light antiaircraft upgraded to
8x1
20mm guns and
4x2 40mm
Bofors AA
guns. |
The Cimarrons
were completed from 1939-1942 as
Maritime
Commission standard
T3-S2-A1 tankers. The
first
twelve T3-S2-A1 tankers were
built for Standard Oil with
subsidies
and technical assistance from the
Navy to ensure that the ships would be usable as fleet oilers in
the
event of war. This required more powerful machinery and a better
hull
form to permit a higher sustained speed than was the norm for
civilian
tankers. As it turned out, the Navy was so anxious to obtain
modern
fleet oilers that it took over the contracts for the first few T3-S2s that were completed.
These
became the Cimarron
class fleet oilers.
At the time of completion, they were the fastest
tankers ever built in U.S. yards
and among the largest in the world. Their hull form was developed
in
Navy test basins and included a bulbous clipper bow to reduce wave
resistance. Cimarron's
trial
performance actually exceeded the design specification, at 16,9000
shp
and 19.28 knots. They were armed and equipped with underway
replenishment gear at their first refits. One Cimarron
could
simultaneously refuel two warships, one on
each beam, while underway at
reduced
speed in calm to moderate seas.
Navalization of the ships involved greatly
increasing the berthing space for the much larger Navy crews,
installing underway replenishment gear and armament, and adding
ship's
boats and Navy communications gear. The ships were also modified
to
carry lubricating oil, diesel oil, and gasoline in addition to fuel
oil.
A typical loadout for a Cimarron
supporting 5
Fleet in late 1943
was 80,000 barrels (12,700,000 liters) fuel oil, 18,000 barrels
(2,860,000 liters) aviation gasoline and 6782 barrels (1,080,000
liters) diesel oil.
A second group of oilers were
completed in
1943-45 on the basic Cimarron
plan. Some authors list these separately as the Ashtabula
class. Their chief distinction from their earlier sister ships is
that
the shortage of 5"/38 guns led to their being armed with just one
5"/38
and four 3"/50 guns
with
inferior fire control ("follow the pointer" system).
| Kaskaskia | Mare Island | |
| Neosho | Pearl Harbor | Crippled by aircraft 1942-5-7 in the Coral Sea; scuttled |
| Platte | San Diego | |
| Sabine | Mare Island | |
| Guadalupe | arrived 1942-1 | |
| Cimarron | arrived 1942-3 | |
| Ashtabula | arrived 1943-9-1 | |
| Cacapon | arrived 1943-11 | |
| Caliente | arrived 1943-12 | |
| Chikaskia | arrived 1943-12 | |
| Marias | arrived 1944-3-28 | |
| Manatee | arrived 1944-5-1 | |
| Mississinewa | arrived 1944-6-30 | Sunk by kaiten on
1944-11-20 at Ulithi |
| Salamonie | arrived 1944-7-15 | |
| Severn | arrived 1944-8 | Assigned to use as water tanker |
| Nantahala | arrived 1944-8-1 | |
| Aucilla | arrived 1944-10-11 | |
| Taluga | arrived 1944-10-14 | |
| Chipola | arrived 1945-2 | |
| Tolovana | arrived 1945-4-6 |
 |
 |
 |
References
Morison
(1951)
Wildenberg (1996)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2012, 2016 by Kent G. Budge. Index
