Oiler (ship)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An oiler is a ship, also called a tanker, that can carry a liquid cargo of petroleum, or a naval support vessel that carries fuel to other naval ships steaming at sea, and can transfer the fuel during underway replenishment at sea (RAS).
In the United States Navy, oilers carry the hull classification symbols AO. They may also carry small quantities of ammunition and cargo.
The U.S. Navy’s first diesel-powered surface ship, the oiler USS Maumee (AO-2), was a good-sized ship for her time, 14,500 tons, and her engines were very large, developing 2,500 horsepower each. Her Captain, CDR Henry C. Dinger, and his Executive Officer Chester Nimitz worked out the first procedures for transferring fuel oil at sea.
Initially, refueling with oil followed the same pattern as coaling – done at anchor in a protected roadstead with the receiving ships moored alongside. In less than six months, Dinger and Nimitz had worked out a mechanism for underway replenishment (UNREP) by towing the receiving ship alongside.
When the United States joined the Allies in World War I, Maumee was the oiler that made possible deployment of the Navy’s destroyers across the Atlantic. Nimitz credited Dinger with the plan and its accomplishment, but it is clear that his own reputation was enhanced because of Maumee’s success.
