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Sparrows Point Yard Lays Keel for Largest American-Built Tanker SPARROWS POINT, MD. On January 23, the initial keel section for a 265,000-dwt tanker was laid in the big building basin at Bethlehem's shipyard here. The vessel, the first of a series of five similar VLCC tankers under contract at the yard, will be the largest ship ever built in the United States. Scheduled for delivery in 1975, she will have an over- all length of 1,100 ft, a breadth of 178 ft, a summertime free- board draft of 67 ft, one in., and will be capable of carry- ing 2,035,000 barrels of oil in her 21 tanks (two of which carry clean ballast). Cruising radius will be 20,000 miles at the design speed of 15% knots. Nation's Largest Basin The basin itself is the larg- est and most modern ship- building facility in the U.S. Measuring 1,200 ft long by 200-ft wide, it is served by four 100-ton-capacity tower cranes which together can handle lifts of more than 400 tons. It is also served by two new support facilities: a large, fully mechanized panel shop which turns out ship subas- semblies weighing as much as 200 tons; and a 231-ft-long blast and paint building within which completed structural units are abrasive cleaned and painted in a controlled en- vironment. A Model of the Bethlehem-designed single-screw, 265,000-dwt tanker shows its single deck ivith forecastle, cylindrical bow, and transom stern. Room for One Hull, Plus Two 70,000-dwt, and three 120,000-dwt tankers have al- ready been built in this basin, and the hull for a fourth 120,- 000-tonner is nearing com- pletion. The great size of this building facility allows work to proceed on one full hull simultaneously with the work on the stern section of an- other. As one hull is com- pleted, it is floated out of the basin to an outfitting pier, the second hull's stern section is floated to the vacated out- board end of the basin for fur- ther, bow-section work, and construction is begun on a following hull by the laying of a stern keel in the basin's shore end. When the final 120,000-dwt vessel is floated out in mid-year, basin work will be given over exclusively to the 265,000-dwt tanker series now under contract. BETHLEHEM STEEL Shipbuilding MSSnSt TANKER Weighing 187 tons, the first keel section for the largest vessel ever constructed in an American yard—a 265,000-dwt VLCC—is swung into place in the giant building basin of Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point shipyard. September 1, 1974 19
