EFC Design 1018: Notes & Illustrations

Notes: During 1917 the British Cunard Line and the American Shawmut Steamship Co. each placed orders for two large single screw cargo ships (yard nos. 3-4 and 7-8 respectively) with the new Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. of Chester, Pa., probably to a design by their builder. Sun then received EFC contract SC 33 of 9 June 1917 for EFC hulls 246-249 (yard nos. 11-12 and 15-16). The EFC design, Design 1018, appears to have been a near duplicate of Sun's design for the four earlier single screw ships. It was a shelter deck ship with three continuous decks (shelter, upper, and main) running end to end, two 'tween decks, and no hull islands (flush decked). The plan view shows near the stern the "tonnage opening" that allowed the capacity of the upper 'tween deck to be excluded from tonnage calculations. See the page on EFC Design 1079 for more on three-decked shelter deck ships and the page on EFC Design 1057-B for an example with measurements of the effect of tonnage openings in three-deck shelter deck ships on gross tonnages and authorized drafts. Yard nos. 5-6 and 9-10 were even larger twin screw cargo ships built to a Luckenbach Steamship Co. design (the South Bend class) and Yard nos. 1-2, 13-14, and 17-20 were tankers. Tankers soon became the yard's specialty.

Requisitioned Sisters: Sun Yard nos. 3-4 (Radnor and Lancaster) and 7-8 (Neponset and Deerfield) were requisitioned by the Shipping Board on 3 August 1917 and are covered in the Requisitioned Ships portion of the McKellar list. For war service the first two were converted to troopships while the others were to be converted to refrigerated cargo ships.

Specifications: Design 1018 (S.S. Hanover, EFC Hull 246): Steel Cargo. Deadweight tons: 10000. Dimensions: 450' length oa, 435' pp x 57.5' beam mld. x 38' depth mld., 26' draft loaded. Propulsion: 1 screw, 1 triple expansion engine, 3 Scotch boilers, 3000 IHP, 10.75 kts. Configuration: Flush shelter deck, 3 decks, 4 holds, 5 hatches.

S.S. Radnor (As Design 1018, Yard No. 3) This requisitioned ship is shown in port in 1919 after being converted to a troopship with additional deckhouses for the troops, including latrines forward of the bridge (not in Lancaster) and probably right aft. She was transferred from cargo service to the Cruiser and Transport Force in March 1919 and brought home nearly 5900 veterans before being decommissioned in October 1919. Photo No. NH 104802 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
S.S. Lancaster (As Design 1018, Yard No. 4) This requisitioned ship operated as a Navy cargo ship between July and December 1918. She then joined the Cruiser and Transport Force on 17 December 1918 to help bring troops home from Europe, was converted to a troopship, and is shown here embarking troops at American Bassens, France, on 16 May 1919. Like Radnor she was decommissioned in October 1919. Photo No. NH 105492 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
S.S. Neponset (As Design 1018, Yard No. 7) This requisitioned ship was photographed by J. E. Gree, Special Photographer, Chester, Pa., in "dazzle" camouflage, probably when completed. She was delivered to the EFC on 7 October 1918 and the Navy took her over on 28 October 1918. They cancelled her planned conversion to a refrigerated cargo ship and used her instead as a cargo ship for the Army. In January 1919 she was made available to the Army for conversion to a transport like two of her sisters but instead she was decommissioned, returned to the U.S. Shipping Board, and sold to the El Dorado Steamship Co. on 4 February 1919. Photo No. NH 102061 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command from original in NARA RG-19-LCM
S.S. Deerfield (As Design 1018, Yard No. 8) This requisitioned ship was delivered to the EFC on 19 October 1918 and inspected by the Navy on 25 October 1918. A letter dated the next day said that she was then being fitted with refrigeration machinery at New York and authorized the Third Naval District to take her over. This relatively uninformative photo on her Navy inspection data (SP/ID) card probably shows her at that time. Perhaps because of the end of the war and the ongoing conversion she was not taken over. Photo No. NH 103471 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
S.S. Hanover (Design 1018, EFC Hull 246) This, the first contract ship of this type, is shown around the time of her completion in October 1919. Although ordered in July 1917 the four contract ships were not laid down until February-September 1919. This photograph was used in a 1925 EFC sales catalog to represent the contract-built class. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, S-528-A
S.S. Lancaster (As Design 1018, Yard No. 4) In merchant service as a cargo ship with neutrality markings circa 1939-1940. The print is backstamped "Palmer Pictures, 90 West Street, New York City." Photo No. NH 105492 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
S.S. Georgian, ex Cajacet (Design 1018, EFC Hull 249) Pierside with peacetime markings painted out. Photo No. Georgian_8272_005 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/8272
S.S. Georgian, ex Cajacet (Design 1018, EFC Hull 249) Entering a U.S. port on 20 September 1941. Photo No. Georgian_8272_009 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/8272
S.S. Arizonan, ex Conshohocken (Design 1018, EFC Hull 248) Entering a U.S. port on 17 January 1942. Photo No. Arizonan_6778_014 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/6778
S.S. Lafayette, ex Dryden (Design 1018, EFC Hull 247) At anchor in a U.S. port on 18 March 1942. Photo No. Lafayette_6008_006 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/6008
S.S. Arizonan, ex Conshohocken (Design 1018, EFC Hull 248) Entering a U.S. port on 7 October 1942. Photo No. Arizonan_6778_008 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/6778
S.S. Lafayette, ex Dryden (Design 1018, EFC Hull 247) Entering a U.S. port on 9 August 1943. Photo No. Lafayette_6008_009 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/6008
S.S. Georgian, ex *Cajacet* (Design 1018, EFC Hull 249) Probably photographed at San Francisco in late 1945 after war service in the Pacific. The three extra pairs of kingposts were probably fitted by the American Hawaiian Steamship Co., which bought the ship in 1929 and whose ships tended to have large numbers of kingposts. Photo No. NH 98768 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
S.S. Nortuna, ex *Conshohocken* (Design 1018, EFC Hull 248) In merchant service under Liberian registry after the war. She was renamed from Arizonan in 1946. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe
S.S. Bering, ex *Salatiga* (As Design 1018, Yard no. 21) McKellar lists this ship as "completed to the same specifications" as Design 1018. There were significant differences, however, including the addition of a forecastle and bridge island. Here she is anchored in a U.S. port on 3 February 1944. Photo No. Bering_6969_001 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/6969

EFC Design 1018 (Sun type): Notes & Illustrations