ABEAM AND UNDERWAY

The US Navy and the first abeam refuelling-at-sea

Tom Adams MBE

Much has been written, credited and debited on the early days of refuelling-at-sea. It was undertaken by the British, Russians, Germans, Italians and possibly the Japanese. The shovelling of coal or pumping fuel oil was generally undertaken in sheltered waters with ships largely stationary and lashed beam-on-beam. However for the first documented and operationally successful abeam oiling-at-sea, when underway, we have to credit the Americans and the USS MAUMEE.

MAUMEE was a 14,500 ton displacement motor tanker with a length of 475ft 7inches and 56ft beam. She was laid down 23 July 1914 at Vallejo, California by the Mare Island Navy Yard and launched 17 April 1915. She was propelled by two MAN diesel engines built under by the Electric Boat Company, developing 3,600hp for a speed of 14 knots.

Her commanding officer – Lt Cdr H C Dinger USN was considered an expert in the use of liquid fuel and in a dual role of XO/Chief Engineer was Lt Chester W Nimitz USN, knowledgeable in diesel engines. Historically important as he was the brain behind the Service Fleet– cum-Fleet Train of the Pacific War against Japan 1943-45.

USS Maumee poses for an early portrait, lying-to in the stream off Mare Island, 25 February 1916. The simplicity of her original configuration contrasts markedly with the major modifications that would be carried out later in her career. (US Navy Bureau of Ships Photograph, 19-MC-12-17, National Archives and Records Administration)

When America declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 the MAUMEE was generally on freighting duty. However, a new function was soon applied with her CO began putting his crew through ‘trials’ at Tangier Sound, Md. She then took on stores and supplies for destroyers at St. Johns, Newfoundland (24–26 May). Here MAUMEE was to play an especially significant part in the war effort, as she became one of the ships assigned to develop the US Navy’s at-sea refuelling techniques with destroyers. Dinger, Nimitz, and a number of their officers had foreseen ‘underway refuelling’ for some months before the US entered the war. They studied the plans for most of the ships in the Fleet and sketched out how such an operation would work. With the US’s entry into the war this shifted underway refuelling from theory to practice.

The USN’s early contribution to the war at sea was to base destroyers at Queenstown, Ireland (now known as Cobh). However, these American vessels lacked the bunker capacity for a trans-Atlantic crossing. There was a need to refuel them on their way to European waters. The USS MAUMEE became the staging post and was deployed to an area some 300 nautical miles south of Greenland – roughly the midpoint between Boston and Queenstown.

MAUMEE’s log recorded that at 0556 on 28 May 1917 ‘sighted destroyers three points forward of port beam’. MAUMEE rendezvoused with the 750-tonners of Destroyer Division 5 – US Ships DRAYTON, JENKINS, PATTERSON, PAULDING, TRIPPE and WARRINGTON and appears to have become the first Naval vessel, of any navy, to operationally transfer oil fuel to ships at sea underway. She reported that conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean were far from calm with biting winds whipping at sailors operating on icy decks. MAUMEE appears to have attempted to refuel two ships at once while underway – one on either beam – but the foul weather often compelled the tanker to position with a single ship on the lee side, manoeuvring at an average speed of five knots. PATTERSON was the first to edge alongside MAUMEE and during the forenoon she pumped enough fuel to all of the destroyers to enable them to complete their ocean crossing. This was estimated at 20,000 gallons to each ship.

While MAUMEE refuelled the ships it is reported that she also passed essential supplies, such as, food and fresh water, by means of wooden ‘saddles’ suspended from the cargo booms. These destroyers reached Queenstown on 1 June.

USS Warrington oiling at sea during World War One, from either Kanawha or Maumee. (Courtesy of Gustavus C Robbins, Somerville, Mass., 1973, Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 77154)

Vice Adm Albert Gleaves USN, Commander Cruiser and Transport Force, led the first American Expeditionary Force convoy as the ships sailed in four groups from New York bound for St. Nazaire, France, on 14 June. The oilers KANAWHA and MAUMEE, escorted by the destroyer USS HENLEY, preceded this convoy to refuel the destroyers at sea as required. MAUMEE’s mid-Atlantic station was near 37°N, 37°W and she is recorded as having replenished up to 34 European‑bound destroyers by 3 July. However, this work took a toll on her crew, hull and machinery and she spent a period undergoing refit at the New York Navy Yard before resuming a gruelling pace. MAUMEE oiled destroyers escorting a convoy on 30 September 1917, and then put in to St. Nazaire (5–7 October). She refuelled destroyers at Queenstown (9–25 October). The ship discharged fuel at Norfolk (22–23 November) and then (25–26 November) at Boston. However, these long hours at sea continued to exact a toll and she underwent extensive repairs at New York Navy Yard (28 November 1917–10 February 1918).

Over time, developments in the techniques, many of them pioneered by MAUMEE’s CO, Cmdr. Dinger, cut down the time it took to replenish an individual ship. The replenishment technique applied has been itemised as:

• The tanker was to tow destroyers alongside (abeam). The fuelling gear consisting of a 10-inch towing hawser, two 6-inch breast lines and a number of 50ft lengths of 3-inch diameter fuel hose (some sources indicated this was rubber hose).
• Hoses were attached to regular fuelling connection on MAUMEE the other end inserted into the open manholes of the receiving ship.
• To increase fuelling rate they pumped through two hoses simultaneously.
• To enable hoses to be clear of the sea, they were supported by a wooden saddle suspended from the oiler’s cargo booms.

USS Maumee replenishes the USS McCall’s bunkers, 22 September 1917. Note the red ‘Baker’ (aka ‘Bravo’) refuelling flag flying from the destroyer. (Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 93098)

Early in 1918 (11 February–30 March 1918) the MAUMEE undertook a busy period of work discharging fuel oil to tanks at: Key West, Fla.; Guantánamo Bay; Charleston, SC; Port Arthur; Melville, RI; Boston; and Norfolk. She then underwent repairs to her engines at New York Navy Yard (20–30 April), loaded fuel oil and petrol at Port Arthur (5–8 May), discharged her cargo for battleships in the York River, Va. (14–16 May), and briefly (17–19 May) undertook a maintenance period at Hampton Roads.

By August it was intended that MAUMEE should undergo a refit to expand her size including increasing her complement by 150 to 253. However, the Constructors expressed some concern over the extent of the renovations that would be required, feeling that the time it would take to change bulkheads and expand the decks would be prohibitive. The USS MAUMEE decommissioned in November 1946.

Years later, Adm Nimitz recounted the process for getting fuel into a moving ship:

“The leading destroyer came smartly alongside about 50 feet away. She slowed to our speed [about 5 knots], and we sent a messenger line over to her forecastle by a line-throwing gun. The destroyer then hauled a 10-inch manila hawser aboard, passed it through the proper chock abreast her bridge, and secured it to the forward gun mount. When this was done, the MAUMEE’s forecastle windlass pulled the hawser ‘towing’ taut. At this point, the destroyer slowed her engines to give good steering control so that an open space of about 50 feet could be maintained between the two ships.”

Sources:

• Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ship
• Gray Steel and Black Oil (Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in US Navy 1912-1992 by Thomas Wildenberg (USNIPress)
• The development of mobile logistic support in Anglo-American naval policy 1900-1953 by Peter V Nash (University Press of Florida)