
SS Jacona (1918)

SS "Jacona" was the first floating electric power plant. This powership was a cargo ship converted to a mobile electric generator plant for emergencies. It was used by the United States Navy during World War II and supplied electric power to South Korea on a temporary basis.
Description.
"Jacona" was a 7,000-ton steam-driven cargo ship. The vessel was made for the United States Shipping Board. "Jacona" was long and wide. The concept for a floating mobile power plant in the form of an ocean going ship was conceived by Walter Scott Wyman. The design engineering was done by Nepsco Services. "Jacona" was the world's first sea-going electric generator powership.
History.
Launched on November 30, 1918, and completed in April 1919 by the Todd Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company of Tacoma, Washington. It was rebuilt in 1930 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia. They installed two separate 10,000-kilowatt turbines to make a power plant that could produce up to 20,000 kilowatts of electrical power at once. "Jacona" was then towed by tug to Bucksport, Maine, to be put into service. There it supplied the Maine Seaboard Paper Company mill with 24,121,000-kilowatt hours of electricity from November 1930 to March 1931. The mill otherwise could not obtain enough energy from other sources. It was placed as an interim power source until the Bingham Hydro Plant was completed and came on line.
When "Jacona" was no longer used at Maine, the New England Public Service Company anchored the ship at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and leased the electrical power it generated. It later bought the vessel outright from the United States Shipping Board. The electricity generated was connected to its city power transmission lines. It produced and supplemented about 15% of the total electrical power needed for Portsmouth and about 30% of its total steam power requirements. The steam was super-heated to and was at of pressure.
In the spring of 1945 "Jacona" was confiscated by the United States Navy for use in World War II. To compensate Portmouth's loss, work was then rushed to complete the J. Brodie Smith Hydro Plant on the Androscoggin River at Errol, New Hampshire, to produce Portmouth's electrical needs. Work was also expedited on a 40,000 KW transmission line that connected the electrical lines at Nashua of the Public Service Company of New Hampshire to the New England Power Company at Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
Korea service.
The Russians shut off hydroelectric power to the South Korean Peninsula in May 1948. The Navy ship "Jacona" generator power plant then furnished electricity into the general Korean power grid. One day in 1950 a rat got into the generator mechanism and accidentally short circuited it. Another electrical generator on board the ship automatically came on line to compensate for the loss of electricity that was generated by the first generator. This extra load caused the second generator to overheat and it eventually burned itself out. Korea had to restrict their use of electricity, since "Jacona" generators were no longer furnishing power at that time.
The US government flew in spare parts to make the necessary repairs to the generators and later the power was restored from the ship. The U.S. Economic Co-operation Administration helped build a permanent 22,000 kW hydro-electric power plant and a 60,000 kW steam powered electric generator for facilities in Korea when the "Jacona" was removed from their power supply grid.
Later service.
"Jacona" provided power at Okinawa while operated by Ryukyu Electric Power Corporation around 1969. She was sold to Philippines buyers in October 1971. 