S.S. Sinclair Petrolore


S.S. Sinclair Petrolore
S.S. Sinclair Petrolore, sixth ship built by the National Bulk Carriers shipyard in Kure, Japan.  Her size may be compared to the T2 tanker shown alongside here.

S.S. Sinclair Petrolore

Sinclair Petrolore was the sixth ship built by National Bulk Carriers Inc., Kure Shipbuilding Division.  She was a rather unique 56,000 DWT self-unloading oil/ore carrier, again the first tanker of that size launched.  As she was also a self-unloading ore carrier, she had a large conveyor boom stowed on her main deck which could be swung to either side to unload cargo, quite a novel concept for the day.  Sinclair Petrolore was a one of a kind ship, no other ships like her were built.  She was quite noticeably a Ludwig ship, suffering from the severe lines he advocated: a skinny smokestack, low after deckhouse, and a rather austere bridge structure.  Ludwig allowed few things on his ships which could not carry cargo.  Note that Sinclair Petrolore also had an engine built in 1936, reconditioned and installed during construction, further illustrating Ludwig's reliance on surplus or reconditioned equipment to keep construction costs down.

Ship Hull# Built GRT DWT Length Beam Comments
Sinclair Petrolore 35 1955 35,477 56,089 789' 106'5" Unique self-unloading oil/ore carrier. Engine made 1936, fitted 1955. Exploded and sank December 1960.

S.S. Sinclair Petrolore
Sinclair Petrolore underway. You can see the deck arrangement a little better in this shot from the air.
S.S. Sinclair Petrolore
Sinclair Petrolore arriving to discharge cargo.

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Created by A. Davis Whittaker, Jr.
Last updated on 20 February 2005.