Hog Islander
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Hog Islanders were cargo ships built at the Hog Island emergency shipyard in Philadelphia at the end of World War I.[1]
Hog Island was the first shipyard ever built for mass production of ships from fabricated parts and sub-assemblies, produced at dozens of subcontractors. It had 50 shipways, seven wet docks and a holding basin.
The vessels were fuelled by oil rather than coal, with geared turbines of 2500 shaft horsepower capable of producing 11 1/2 knots. The design had an absolute minimum of frills with no sheer (upward curve at the bow or stern) to the decks, resulting in a "homely, squat, angular silhouette that proclaims the Hog Islander to any seafaring man the moment she heaves into view."
Two basic designs were to be fabricated at the yard, both to be collectively known as "Hog Islanders". The Type A design was a cargo carrier and the Type B was designed to transport troops. Both were simple designs geared toward mass production and aesthetic considerations were ignored. The hulls had no sheer and were symmetrical from the sides, resulting in some of the uglier ships ever to sail the seas. They were ugly but well built and had good performance in terms of capacity and speed. All were oil fired and were very modern in design except for their silhouette. The Type B in particular was said to be designed with camouflage in mind because with their lack of sheer, high stern, and the evenly balanced superstructure, submarines would have trouble telling which direction they were going.
The Hog Island contract was for 180 ships but with the end of the war, only 122 were completed. The first ship, the SS Quistonck, was launched on August 5, 1918, and the last of 122 ships on January 29, 1921. Twelve of the ships were built as 8000 ton “type B" troop transports. None of the ships were ready in time to take part in World War I, but 58 Hog Islanders were casualties in World War II.
The Liberty ship was a similar concept of vessel built during World War II.
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[edit] References
- ^ De La Pedraja, Rene, A Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Merchant Marine and Shipping Industry Since the Introduction of Steam, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT: n.d.), p. 105.
