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MS American Leader
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MS American Leader
MS American Leader was a merchant cargo ship which entered service for the United States Lines in 1941. It was most noted for falling victim to the German auxiliary cruiser Michel during the Second World War. Her surviving crew members were taken as prisoners of war and collectively they endured three ship sinkings.
American Leader was one of five vessels constructed by the Western Pipe and Steel Company from the US Maritime Commission's Type C1-B design. The detailed building plans were prepared for Western Pipe and Steel by New York naval architect George G. Sharp. In the 1930s American shipyards were making a transition from riveting to welding as the main building method and Western had been a pioneer in using these techniques since 1929. Welding reduced weight and steel usage because plate seams did not have to overlap as with riveting. New workers acquired welding skills more quickly than riveting techniques. Welding transformed shipbuilding by allowing assembly in modules which could be placed sideways or even upside down to facilitate construction.
The C1-B cargo ships were constructed with flush full scantling type decks having a raked stem and cruiser stern. Two complete steel decks, the main and second decks, were fitted and a third deck was fitted below the second deck extending from the stem to the forward machinery space bulkhead. The double bottom extended from the forward collision bulkhead to the after collision bulkhead. Two 28-foot lifeboats, with a capacity of 60 persons each, were stowed under mechanical davits on the bridge deck.
The hull was subdivided by seven transverse bulkheads, all watertight to the main deck. Five cargo holds were provided: three forward and two aft of the machinery space. Cargo was handled through five hatches, one for each hold. Deep tanks were provided for 702 tons of liquid cargo.
The crew accommodations were all in a midship deck house. Crew quarters, messrooms, galley, hospital and the ship's stores were on the main deck. Officers' quarters, accommodations for eight passengers, a combined dining room/lounge and the pantry are on the cabin deck. The captain's office and stateroom and the chief mate's stateroom were on the bridge deck with the wheel house, chart room, radio room, gyro room, fan room and the emergency generator room. Mechanical ventilation and heating was provided for all living and working spaces.
Masts were fitted on the centerline of the vessel between hatches Nos. 1 and 2, 2 and 3, and 4 and 5, to which cargo booms were rigged. Two king posts, one port and one starboard, were fitted at both the forward and after ends of the deck house. Hatches Nos. 1 and 5 were provided with two 5-ton booms and two winches each. Nos. 2, 3 and 4 hatches were provided with four 5-ton booms and four winches each. The cargo winches were driven by 50-horsepower electric motors, all installed on the main deck.
The vessel was constructed with fire-resistant materials and also had enhanced fire-detecting and fire-extinguishing equipment installed for the time. A "smoke-pipe" fire-detecting system was installed in all cargo spaces, the paint locker, carpenter shop, dry storeroom and bosun's storerooms. A CO2 fire suppression system protected the cargo spaces, service spaces and machinery space in addition to standard fire fighting equipment.
When ship building expanded in 1940, steam turbine propulsion was the dominant technology. High speed steam turbines, however, required highly precise manufacturing techniques and the companies capable of producing them were already at capacity with commitments for military and high speed merchant ships. Low speed ships that were to travel in convoys such as the Liberty ships were fitted with triple-expansion steam engines. These were already relics of an earlier age but did not require high precision manufacturing as did turbines. The US Navy had been experimenting with diesel engines for surface ships since 1915 when then-Lieutenant Chester W. Nimitz supervised their construction and installation in the USS Maumee. American Leader and her four sister C1-B ships at Western were therefore powered by two Busch-Sulzer two-cycle, trunk-piston diesel engines connected to the shaft through electro-magnetic couplings and reduction gears. The use of twin propulsion units to drive a single shaft in the C1-B ships allowed either engine to be shut down for inspection or maintenance while the ship continued on at reduced speed. Diesels had the advantage of starting almost instantaneously without waiting for steam pressure to build. At the time, however, diesel engines had a low power to space ratio; a disadvantage on a ship that required cargo space. The steering gear was an electro-hydraulic double-ram type, controlled by a telemotor transmission and gyro-pilot system.
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MS American Leader AI simulator
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MS American Leader
MS American Leader was a merchant cargo ship which entered service for the United States Lines in 1941. It was most noted for falling victim to the German auxiliary cruiser Michel during the Second World War. Her surviving crew members were taken as prisoners of war and collectively they endured three ship sinkings.
American Leader was one of five vessels constructed by the Western Pipe and Steel Company from the US Maritime Commission's Type C1-B design. The detailed building plans were prepared for Western Pipe and Steel by New York naval architect George G. Sharp. In the 1930s American shipyards were making a transition from riveting to welding as the main building method and Western had been a pioneer in using these techniques since 1929. Welding reduced weight and steel usage because plate seams did not have to overlap as with riveting. New workers acquired welding skills more quickly than riveting techniques. Welding transformed shipbuilding by allowing assembly in modules which could be placed sideways or even upside down to facilitate construction.
The C1-B cargo ships were constructed with flush full scantling type decks having a raked stem and cruiser stern. Two complete steel decks, the main and second decks, were fitted and a third deck was fitted below the second deck extending from the stem to the forward machinery space bulkhead. The double bottom extended from the forward collision bulkhead to the after collision bulkhead. Two 28-foot lifeboats, with a capacity of 60 persons each, were stowed under mechanical davits on the bridge deck.
The hull was subdivided by seven transverse bulkheads, all watertight to the main deck. Five cargo holds were provided: three forward and two aft of the machinery space. Cargo was handled through five hatches, one for each hold. Deep tanks were provided for 702 tons of liquid cargo.
The crew accommodations were all in a midship deck house. Crew quarters, messrooms, galley, hospital and the ship's stores were on the main deck. Officers' quarters, accommodations for eight passengers, a combined dining room/lounge and the pantry are on the cabin deck. The captain's office and stateroom and the chief mate's stateroom were on the bridge deck with the wheel house, chart room, radio room, gyro room, fan room and the emergency generator room. Mechanical ventilation and heating was provided for all living and working spaces.
Masts were fitted on the centerline of the vessel between hatches Nos. 1 and 2, 2 and 3, and 4 and 5, to which cargo booms were rigged. Two king posts, one port and one starboard, were fitted at both the forward and after ends of the deck house. Hatches Nos. 1 and 5 were provided with two 5-ton booms and two winches each. Nos. 2, 3 and 4 hatches were provided with four 5-ton booms and four winches each. The cargo winches were driven by 50-horsepower electric motors, all installed on the main deck.
The vessel was constructed with fire-resistant materials and also had enhanced fire-detecting and fire-extinguishing equipment installed for the time. A "smoke-pipe" fire-detecting system was installed in all cargo spaces, the paint locker, carpenter shop, dry storeroom and bosun's storerooms. A CO2 fire suppression system protected the cargo spaces, service spaces and machinery space in addition to standard fire fighting equipment.
When ship building expanded in 1940, steam turbine propulsion was the dominant technology. High speed steam turbines, however, required highly precise manufacturing techniques and the companies capable of producing them were already at capacity with commitments for military and high speed merchant ships. Low speed ships that were to travel in convoys such as the Liberty ships were fitted with triple-expansion steam engines. These were already relics of an earlier age but did not require high precision manufacturing as did turbines. The US Navy had been experimenting with diesel engines for surface ships since 1915 when then-Lieutenant Chester W. Nimitz supervised their construction and installation in the USS Maumee. American Leader and her four sister C1-B ships at Western were therefore powered by two Busch-Sulzer two-cycle, trunk-piston diesel engines connected to the shaft through electro-magnetic couplings and reduction gears. The use of twin propulsion units to drive a single shaft in the C1-B ships allowed either engine to be shut down for inspection or maintenance while the ship continued on at reduced speed. Diesels had the advantage of starting almost instantaneously without waiting for steam pressure to build. At the time, however, diesel engines had a low power to space ratio; a disadvantage on a ship that required cargo space. The steering gear was an electro-hydraulic double-ram type, controlled by a telemotor transmission and gyro-pilot system.