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SS Ideal X

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Plan of the SS Ideal X
History
NameIdeal X, ex-Potrero Hills, ex-Capt. John D.P., ex-Elemir[1]
OwnerPan-Atlantic Steamship Company[2]
Port of registryUnited States
BuilderRebuilt as container ship at Bethlehem Steel, Baltimore, MD.[1]
Launched30 December 1944
CompletedJanuary 1945
Out of serviceSold for scrapping, 1965.[3]
IdentificationOfficial number: 247155[4]
FateScrapped in Japan, 1967.[3]
NotesFormer T2 tanker. Originally built by Marinship Corp. in Sausalito, California as yard number 158 in 1945.[4]
General characteristics
Class and typeT2-SE-A1
Tonnage16,460 GRT[4]
Length524 ft (160 m)[1]
Beam30 ft (9.1 m)[1]
Height68 ft (21 m)[1]
PropulsionElliot Company steam turbine, electric propulsion.[4]
Capacity
  • 58 33-foot containers
  • 10,572 DWT[4]
The Ideal X was originally constructed as a T2 tanker, similar to the Hat Creek shown here in August 1943.

SS Ideal X, a converted World War II T-2 oil tanker, was the first commercially successful container ship.

Built by The Marinship Corporation during World War II as Potrero Hills, she was later purchased by Malcom McLean's Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company.[5][6][7] In 1955, the ship was modified to carry shipping containers and rechristened Ideal X. During her first voyage in her new configuration, on 26 April 1956,[8] the Ideal X carried 58 containers from Port Newark, New Jersey, to Port of Houston, Texas, where 58 trucks were waiting to be loaded with the containers.[9] It was not the first purpose built container ship: the Clifford J. Rodgers, operated by the White Pass and Yukon Route, had made its debut in 1955.[10]

In 1959, the vessel was acquired by Bulgarian owners, who rechristened her Elemir. The Elemir suffered extensive damage during heavy weather on 8 February 1964, and was sold in turn to Japanese breakers. She was finally scrapped on 20 October 1964, in Hirao, Japan.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e Cudahy, 2004, p. 31.
  2. ^ Cudahy, 2004, p. 30.
  3. ^ a b Cudahy, 2004, p. 312.
  4. ^ a b c d e Cudahy, 2004, p. 290.
  5. ^ "Marinship".
  6. ^ "THe JoC: 175 Years of Change". Archived from the original on 15 September 2007.
  7. ^ Cudahy, 2006.
  8. ^ "The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – Press Release".
  9. ^ Levinson, 2006, p. 1.
  10. ^ Network, MI News (21 March 2019). "Clifford J. Rodgers: The World's First Purpose Built Container Ship". Marine Insight. Retrieved 4 January 2023.

References

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