British Admiral: Giant that 'shut out the sun'

BP operated Europe’s first giant tanker in the 1960s although the Japanese led the way. Construction workers called it the giant which ‘shut out the sun’.

By the beginning of the 1960s, crude oil tankers had settled on a typical maximum deadweight of around 75,000 tonnes, although the Japanese were already pushing the boundaries.

In 1959, David Ludwig’s National Bulk Carrier’s completed the 104,520 tonne deadweight tanker Universe Apollo, at its Kure shipyard in Japan. This was the world’s first 100,000-tonne class oil tanker. Then, in 1962, the 132,000 dwt Nissho Maru was completed by Japan’s Sasebo Heavy Industries.

The incentive for building ever larger vessels was the so-called economy of scale whereby efficiency increased with size. This was enhanced by the closure of the Suez Canal between 1966 and 1975, forcing ships to go the much longer route round the Cape of Good Hope on passages between the Middle East and Asia, and Europe.

Nevertheless, Europe had yet to break through the 100,000 tonne barrier. That was not until 1965 with the completion of BP's British Admiral, the first tanker built in the UK, and Europe, to exceed the magic number.

Milestone for UK shipbuilding

In 1962, British Petroleum (BP) was about to celebrate its 50th anniversary as a tanker company, its origins being traceable back to the founding of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908.

Initially the company had placed contracts for the transportation of its oil with various shipping companies but in 1912 the company purchased its first vessel, the Ferrara, to carry cased oil.

Appropriately, five decades later BP placed an order in December 1961 with the Barrow-in-Furness shipyard of Vickers Ltd for the construction of a 100,000 dwt tanker. Work started on British Admiral, as the vessel would be named, at the end of 1962 with keel laying on 3 December.

At its peak, construction involved 1,440 workers and some were so impressed by British Admiral's size they remarked that for months it “shut out the sun” from the building berth.

The vessel reflected the new trend in vessel design with an all-aft superstructure and was built to Lloyd’s Register class. Forward were a total of 21 cargo tanks, three abreast in seven sets, four of which were designed for water ballast. Four cargo pumps were installed in the pump room, each with a capacity of 1,860 tonnes/hour; tank cleaning was by the Butterworth system.

Propulsion was by a pair of steam turbines producing a total of 18,390 kW and driving a single screw for a service speed of 15.5 knots.

On 17 March 1965, British Admiral was named by Her Majesty the Queen and launched, with completion following on 21 July that year. Her career lasted 11 years until she was sold to Nissan Iwai Co for breaking by Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Co and taken to Kaohsiung on 15 July 1976.

British Argosy was a near sister to British Admiral

Second 100,000 tonner

BP also ordered a second, near sister ship, from Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson's Neptune Yard, at Wallsend, UK. This would become British Argosy, launched on 7 February 1966 and completed in July. Again, her career spanned just 10 years and she preceded her sister to Kaohsiung on 1 July 1976 for breaking by Nan Feng Steel Enterprise Co.

Rapid size escalation

Following the delivery of the two tankers, BP began a programme of building larger vessels – but not in UK yards.

Meanwhile the world was in a race to build even bigger ships. Key tankers demonstrating this growth in the ten years after British Admiral included:

1966: the 210,000 dwt tanker Idemitsu Maru completed by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI)

1968: the 326,000 dwt tanker Universe Ireland delivered by IHI

1971: the 377,000 dwt tanker Nisseki Maru again from IHI

1973:  the 483,960 dwt Globtik London also from IHI

1976: the 550,000 dwt Batillus from Chantiers Atlantique.

In a mere decade, maximum tanker size had grown to five times that of British Admiral. Vessels of even 1 million dwt were being contemplated but these never materialised, although a drydock capable of accommodating such giants was constructed by Lisnave in Portugal.

At some 550,000 dwt, the Batillus was amongst the largest tankers ever built. Its size can be judged by the vessel alongside, a tanker whose size was typical of a large tanker a couple of decades previously

Few giants were constructed and within just a few more years a ‘standard’ maximum size of around 300,000 dwt became the norm for the tanker industry.

Nevertheless, British Admiral was a major milestone for the UK, and European, shipbuilding industries even if it was the beginning of the end for these as time would tell.

John Barnes is a journalist and author.