SS Platano

Last updated
History
Name
  • 1930–1965: SS Platano
  • 1965–1966: SS El Toro [1]
Owner
  • from 1930: Balboa Shipping [2] [3]
  • by 1964: Empressa Hondurena de Vapores [4]
Operator United Fruit Company flag.svg United Fruit Company [2] [3]
Port of registry
Builder Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, England [2]
Launched14 March 1930 [1]
CompletedJune 1930 [1]
Identification
FateScrapped 1966 [1]
General characteristics
Tonnage
Length416.3 ft (126.9 m) p/p [2] 432 ft (132 m) o/a [1]
Beam56.2 ft (17.1 m) [2]
Draft25.75 ft (7.85 m) fully laden [1]
Depth30.5 ft (9.3 m) [2]
Propulsion
Speed15.5 knots (28.7 km/h) [1] [4]
Sensors &
processing systems		 echo sounding device [2]
Armament1 × 4"/50 caliber gun (1942) [1]
Notes sister ship: SS Musa

SS Platano was a refrigerated banana boat of the United Fruit Company. [2] She was built in 1930, reflagged in 1947, renamed El Toro in 1965 and scrapped in 1966. [1]

Contents

Building

Platano was built by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead, England, launched on 13 March 1930 and completed that June. [2] United Fruit had a sister ship, SS Musa, built in the same year by Workman, Clark of Belfast, Northern Ireland. [5]

Platano had turbo-electric transmission built by British Thomson-Houston of Rugby, Warwickshire. [2] Her oil-fired boilers supplied steam to a turbo generator that fed current to a propulsion motor on her single propeller shaft. [2]

Career

Platano was owned by a United Fruit subsidiary, Balboa Shipping Co, Inc, which registered her under the Panamanian flag of convenience. [2] [3] In the Second World War the US War Shipping Administration allocated Platano and Musa to the United States Army Transportation Corps. [1]

On 18 February 1943 the Director of the Naval Transportation Service approved acquiring the two ships as United States Navy auxiliary ships and on 1 March the Auxiliary Vessels Board endorsed the decision. [1] On 16 March the Naval Transportation Service requested that Platano be assigned to the Navy and on 24 March the Auxiliary Vessels Board confirmed this had been done. [1]

Soon the plan was changed, with an older banana boat, SS Ulua being substituted for Musa. [1] On 22 April 1943 the Vice Chief of Naval Operations assigned Platano and Ulua the names and classifications USS Octans (AF-26) and USS Pictor (AF-27). [1] Ulua was duly acquired, renamed and commissioned into the Navy but Platano was not. [1] The Auxiliary Vessels Board decided on 22 May 1944 to cancel Platano's acquisition, and the cancellation was executed on 26 May. [1]

In 1947 United Fruit reflagged Platano from Panama to the Honduran flag of convenience. [1] By 1964 the company had transferred her from Balboa Shipping to another subsidiary, Empressa Hondurena de Vapores. [4] She kept her original name until 1965, when she was renamed El Toro. [1] She was scrapped in 1966. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Roberts, Stephen S (15 September 2001). "Class: Pictor (AF-27)". U.S. Navy Auxiliary Vessels 1884–1945. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Harnack 1938, p. 596
  4. 1 2 3 Harnack 1964, p. 633.
  5. ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 22 May 2013.

Sources

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