page_title: T2 tanker
section_title: Commercial service
hierarchical_section_title: T2 tanker / Notable incidents / Commercial service
context_page_description: The T2 tanker, or T2, was a class of oil tanker constructed and produced in large quantities in the United States during World War II. Only the T3 tankers were larger "navy oilers" of the period. Some 533 T2s were built between 1940 and the end of 1945. They were used to transport fuel oil, diesel fuel, gasoline and sometimes black oil-crude oil. Post war many T2s remained in use; like other hastily built World War II ships pressed into peacetime service, there were safety concerns. As was found during the war, the United States Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation in 1952 stated that in cold weather the ships were prone to metal fatigue cracking, so were "belted" with steel straps. This occurred after two T2s, Pendleton and Fort Mercer, split in two off Cape Cod within hours of each other. Pendleton's sinking is memorialized in The Finest Hours. Engineering inquiries into the problem suggested the cause was poor welding techniques. It was found the steel was not well suited for the new wartime welding construction. The high sulfur content made the steel brittle and prone to metal fatigue at lower temperatures.
context_section_description: SS Bemis Heights sank on 5 November 1948 off Quoin Point, South Africa on trip from Santos to Abadan.
  SS Pendleton, broke in two on 18 February 1952
  SS Fort Mercer, broke in two on 18 February 1952
  SS Midway Hills sank 2 October 1961 after she broke in two from an engine room explosion. She sank 110 miles east from Jacksonville, Florida, on a trip from Houston to Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
  SS Marine Sulphur Queen and its crew of 39 disappeared near the southern coast of Florida after 4 February 1963.
  SS Bunker Hill sank 6 March 1964 after an explosion, she broke in two near Anacortes, Washington on a trip from Tacoma, Washington to Anacortes.
  SS White Bird Canyon sank on 17 December 1964 with loss of all the crew in bad weather off Ulak Island, Aleutians on trip from Vancouver to Yokohama.
  SS Rainier (T2-SE-A1) built by Swan Island. After World War II was sold to private company in 1948. Was converted to bulk cargo ship on 1962, was wrecked and sank on 22 December 1965 off Faja Grande Lighthouse, Flores, Azores as SS Papadiamandis.
  SS Fort Schuyler (T2-SE-A1) fire started in engine room, then was damaged by explosions and sank on 24 October 1966 off the coast of Morgan City, Louisiana.
  SS Ninety-Six sank on 3 March 1971 after starting to leak in storm in the Indian Ocean, on trip from Bunbury, Western Australia, to Savannah.
  SS V. A. Fogg, a T2 tanker, lost 1 February 1972 mistakenly believed to have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle
  SS Belridge Hills Sank 24 December 1972 in gale storm 800 miles south of Kodiak on trip from Vancouver to Yokohama.
  SS Marine Floridian, a T2 Tanker that in 1977 collided with a drawbridge in Virginia in a spectacular and costly accident.
  SS Marine Electric, a T2 tanker that sank in a 1983 storm, the investigation of which led to major reforms in ship inspections and safety standards.
  Delta Conveyor sank in the Mississippi River adjacent to Delta Bulk Terminal in Convent, Louisiana. Raised in two sections: the bow in early 2003 and the aft section in late 2003.
caption: SS Marine Sulphur Queen