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SS A. C. Bedford
THROUGHOUT World War II, the Esso tanker A. C. Bedford transported oil supplies to fighting fronts in two oceans without being once damaged by enemy action. She was one of the ships that made historv without being involved in tragedy.
Arriving in ballast from Le Havre, France, at Caripito, Venezuela, on September 5, 1939, the A. C. Bedford loaded her first wartime cargo, 103,004 barrels of crude oil, which she discharged at Aruba, N. W. I., September 9. She was commanded by Captain Edward V. Peters and her engines were in charge of Chief Engineer George A. Proctor.
In the west Atlantic until April, 1942, the A. C. Bedford carried fuel oil and crudes from the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Providence, Halifax, and Montreal.
Three of her cargoes during this period were delivered to South American ports, five went to Aruba, and one to Cristobal, Canal Zone.
In April, 1942 the tanker was in the Pacific, where she loaded at El Segundo. California, successively for San Francisco, Richmond, and Seattle, and made one voyage from San Pedro to Pearl Harbor and one from San Pedro to Balboa.
Returned to Atlantic service under War Shipping Administration orders in August, 1942, the A. C. Bedford made four consecutive voyages to Glasgow, loading once each at Texas City and Curacao and twice at New York.
Away From Home Waters Nine Months
On one of the Glasgow voyages, when the A. C. Bedford was commanded by Captain Harry E. Heffelfinger, she fueled an escort vessel in heavy seas, using a flexible 6-inch hose attached to a 3/4-inch wire cable about 300 feet in length.
The veteran tanker then began an epic series of overseas voyages which kept her away from home waters for nearly nine months while she was transporting fuel for the fighting fronts. Sailing from New York on [une 24. 1943, she arrived at Gibraltar July 18 and discharged a cargo of fuel oil. While she was in transit, the invasion of Sicily was launched on July 10. The A. C. Bedford then loaded at Casablanca another cargo of fuel oil which she discharged at Gi-braltar. Her next mission was another loading at Casablanca for Bizerte. She sailed for Abadan on September 3 - the day on which Allied forces began the invasion of the Italian mainland. At Abadan the ship loaded furnace oil and Diesel oil for Aden where she arrived October 17, 1943, four days after Italy's declaration of war against Germany.
The A. C. Bedford then loaded fuel oil at Abadan.
Leaving November 6, she reached Augusta, Sicily, on December 2. She then made another trip to Abadan and loaded one more cargo of fuel oil for Sicily; this was delivered at Palermo on February 4, 1944. She then sailed for the United States, arriving at New York on March 8, 1944 - 8 months and 14 days after her departure from that port.
With the exception of one voyage, the A. C. Bedford remained on this side of the Atlantic for the rest of the war, loading crude and fuel oil at Caribbean ports and discharging at New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Philadelphia, the Panama Canal Zone, and South American ports. She carried one cargo to Pearl Harbor.
The SS A. C. Bedford was built at San Francisco in 1918 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd., at their Union Plant, Potrero Works. She is a sistership of the Fred W. Weller.
A twin-screw vessel of 15,775 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 28 feet, 8 1/2 inches, the A. C. Bedford has an overall length of 518 feet, a length between perpendiculars of 500 feet, a moulded breadth of 68 feet, and a depth moulded of 38 feet, 3/8 inch. With a cargo carrying capacity of 118.939 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate of 4,000 barrels an hour.
Her triple expansion engines, supplied with steam by three Scotch boilers, develop 3,000 indicated horsepower and give her a classification certified speed of 9.5 knots.
The wartime transportation record of the A. C. Bedford was in suminary as follows:
In command of the A. C. Bedford during the war years were Captains Edward V. Peters, Lionel E. Crowder, Guy A. Campbell, Peder Nielsen. Olav Olsen, Harry E. Heffelfinger, Gustave A. Eklund, Clinton W. Hayes, Ivar Boklund, Frank E. Wirtanen and August Bosch.
During the same period her engineroom was in charge of Chief Engineers George A. Proctor, Harrv Farnan, Harry R. Peck, William H. Ahrens, Clyde P. Williams, Frank J. Burchalewski, Thomas J. O'Brien, Leroy E. Dwelly, Raymond Shannon, and Robert W. Gunn.
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