SS Darien (1924)

Career (Panama)
Name:

MV La Marea[1] (1924–29)

SS Darien (1930– )[1]
Owner: Balboa Shipping Co, Inc.[2]
Operator: United Fruit Company[2]
Port of registry: Panama[2]
Builder: Cammell Laird, Birkenhead[2]
Completed: April 1924[2]
Identification:

call sign HPBD (from 1934)[3]

General characteristics
Tonnage:as built:
3,689 GRT[1]
tonnage under deck 3,183[1]
2,148 NRT[1] after lengthening:
4,281 GRT[2]
tonnage under deck 3,533[2]
2,276 NRT[2]
Length:as built: 325.2 ft (99.1 m)[1] after lengthening: 352.7 ft (107.5 m)[2]
Beam:48.1 ft (14.7 m)[2]
Draught:as built: 22 ft 5.5 in (6.85 m)[1] after lengthening: 22 ft 6.5 in (6.87 m)[2]
Depth:28.3 ft (8.6 m)[2]
Installed power:as built: 981 NHP[1]
as re-engined: 839 NHP[2]
Propulsion:single screw

as built: diesel-electric[1]

as re-engined: turbo-electric[2]

SS Darien was a refrigerated cargo ship of the United Fruit Company. Cammell Laird of Birkenhead, England built her as MV La Marea, completing her in 1924.[1] She had been renamed Darien by 1930[1] and had been re-engined from diesel to steam by 1931.[2]

The ship was owned by a United Fruit subsidiary, Balboa Shipping Co, Inc, which registered her under the Panamanian flag of convenience.[1] She was still in service in 1945.[4]

Building

La Marea was built as a diesel-electric motor vessel, with four four-cylinder single-acting two-stroke diesel engines.[1] They powered electric generators that supplied current to a single electric propulsion motor rated at 981 NHP that turned a single propeller shaft.[1] She was equipped with both submarine signalling and wireless.[1]

Rebuilding

By 1930 Darien had been lengthened by 27.5 feet (8.4 m), which increased her gross register tonnage by 592 tons.[1] By 1931 she had been converted from diesel-electric to steam turbo-electric propulsion.[2] Her four diesel engines and four electric generators were replaced with two water-tube boilers and a single British Thomson-Houston turbo generator.[2] Her boilers had a combined heating surface of 8,660 square feet (805 m2)[2] and a working pressure of 400 lbf/in2.[2] The conversion reduced Darien‍ '​s power output to 839 NHP.[2]

Darien was not United Fruit's first turbo-electric ship. As early as 1921 Workman, Clark and Company of Belfast had completed SS San Benito for Balboa Shipping, again using a BT-H turbo generator and propulsion motor.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Lloyd's Register, Steam Ships & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1931. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  3. ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1945. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 5 May 2013.