EFC Design 1135 (Requisitioned):
Notes & Illustrations
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Notes: These eleven ships (including William Penn, see Design 1136) were at the center of what became known in Washington as the "Pusey & Jones case." At the end of 1915 the Norwegian ship broker Christoffer Hannevig arrived in New York where he began contracting with shipyards for ships and then selling the contracts to shipping interests, mostly in Europe. In March 1916 he acquired control of the Pusey & Jones Co. of Wilmington, Del., where he expanded four building ways to build ships of up to 4500 tons. On 9 February 1916 he incorporated the Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. at Gloucester City, N.J., where he built six shipways, two for the construction of vessels up to 7000 tons and four to handle vessels up to 12500 tons. He ordered six tankers at that yard in June-August 1916, three in the names of Norwegian acquaintances and three for his own Bulk Oil Transportation Inc., which he had incorporated on 6 June 1916. In August and September 1916 he similarly ordered six 12500-ton cargo ships, two for Norwegians and four for Bulk Oil. (Two 7500-ton cargo ships ordered at this time for Bulk Oil were later cancelled.) He later added five more 12500-ton cargo ships to the order book at Pennsylvania without formal contracts. Between September 1916 and June 1917 he ordered 14 small (4000-4300 ton) cargo ships at Wilmington in his own name and for Bulk Oil. On 3 May 1917 he filed to incorporate his third yard, the New Jersey Shipbuilding Co., which was built adjacent to the Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. with five shipways for building 5000-ton ships. On 1 June 1917 he ordered eight 5000-ton cargo ships there for his own Manss Steamships Corp., which he had organized on 24 January 1917, and before August he added four more ships to the order book there without formal contracts. Between February and June 1917 he sold 18 of these ships (10 at Pennsylvania and 8 at Wilmington) to ship operators, one tanker to the John M. Connelly Steamship Co. and the rest to the British Shipping Controller. On 3 August 1917 all 45 ships building in his yards were requisitioned, both those belonging to him and to his shipping companies and the 18 he had sold. On January 22, 1918, Hannevig's three shipyards were consolidated to form a single corporation, The Pusey & Jones Company, although the renaming of the two Gloucester yards was only announced in mid-1918. Hannevig was no longer able to finance his yards through the sale of the ship contracts that he had placed with them, and it soon became clear that he was under-capitalized. In October 1918 the press reported that the EFC had formally taken over the two Gloucester City shipyards, brought in new management to increase the speed of production, and authorized the construction of twelve new shipways there. In December 1918 following the armistice the press reported that as soon as the Government released control of the two plants they would begin production of 12000-ton and 5000-ton ships for the export market. Involvement with the 12500-ton design and its postwar desire to build larger ships probably led the EFC to designate it their Design 1135 not long after they designated an expanded Design 1013 as Design 1133 (q.v.) in mid-late 1919. In March 1920 the EFC awarded Hannevig about $7 million as just compensation for his shipbuilding work but deducted from it almost $3.8 million due to concerns about the financial interactions between his shipyards and his shipping companies, the handling of profits from ship sales, and the lack of contracts for nine ships. Hannevig contested the deduction, the award was withdrawn, and the "Pusey & Jones case" was still in the courts in 1959. The last ship at Gloucester City, William Penn, was conditionally accepted by the EFC on 29 September 1920 and sent to Cramp's for installation of her experimental diesel machinery (see Design 1136). Hannevig was adjudicated bankrupt in February 1921 and his Pusey & Jones Company followed into receivership in July 1921. (Special sources: International Marine Engineering, 1918, passim; Hearings before Select Committee on U.S. Shipping Board Operations, House of Representatives, Part 6, 1920; In Re Government of Norway, (1959), United States Court of Federal Claims, Apr 8, 1959.) Specifications: Design 1135 (S.S. Indianapolis, Yard no. 7): Steel Cargo. Deadweight tons: 12706. Dimensions: 439.5' length pp x 60' beam mld. x 36.7' depth mld., 28.4' draft loaded. Propulsion: 1 screw, 1 turbine, 3 Scotch boilers, 3000 SHP, 10 kts. Configuration: 3-island, 2 decks, 5 holds, 5 hatches. (Indianapolis and Henry Clay were coal fired, Ethan Allen and Patrick Henry each had one 3000 IHP quadruple expansion engine instead of the turbine, William Penn, John Jay and James Otis had 3 decks in Nos. 1, 2, and 3 holds) |
| S.S. Daniel Webster (EFC Design 1135, Yard no. 11). Photographed on 1 November 1919 three days before her completion, probably by her builder on trials. This yard built eleven large freighters of this type. Except for the first, Indianapolis, all were named for historic American leaders. (NHHC: NH 758) (Click photo to enlarge) |
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S.S. Abraham Lincoln (Yard no. 9) Photographed on 25 September 1919 one day before her delivery, probably by her builder on trials. All were completed with the postwar rig shown here and not the wartime rig on the plan above. Photo No. NH 777 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
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USAT Ludington, ex James Otis (Yard no. 19) Photographed during the 1930s, probably at San Francisco. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
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USAT Ludington, ex James Otis (Yard no. 19) At Fort Mason, San Francisco, on 8 January 1942. Note the addition of a goalpost mast aft of the superstructure. Photo No. SC 190724 (Army Signal Corps photo) Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-111 |
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USAT Ludington, ex James Otis (Yard no. 19) Photographed during World War II. Photo No. SC 238518 (Army Signal Corps photo) Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-111 |
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S.S. Pan Georgia, ex Andrew Jackson (Yard no. 10) Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, and John Adams were converted to tankers by new owners in 1937. Pan Georgia ex Andrew Jackson is shown here on 22 September 1944 aground off the East Coast with two smaller craft alongside to starboard. Photo No. 80-G-420159 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-80=G |
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S.S. Enrichetto, ex Ethan Allen (Yard no. 15) As an Italian merchant ship between 1954 and 1958. She was one of two ships of this type that had reciprocating engines instead of turbines. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
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Shipyards in Gloucester City, N.J. Sheet no. 1 of the 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Gloucester City. The two plants of the Pusey & Jones Co. are on sheet 15, which is at the southwest corner of the city limits just above Timber Creek. The map included 23 sheets that covered the city and environs to assist firefighters. Photo No. None Source: Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sanborn05490_007/ |
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Shipyards in Gloucester City, N.J. Sheet no. 15 of the 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Gloucester City, Camden County, New Jersey, showing the New Jersey Shipbuilding Co. and the Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. plants of the Pusey & Jones Co. A note explains that the plants were then closed and in the hands of receivers. Photo No. None Source: Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sanborn05490_007/ |
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