New midsection "stretches" tanker. Increases payload U.S. shipyards are doubling the life of war-built T-2 tankers and enabling them to carry more oil. How its done is shown in these photos of the Gulf Oil tanker "Gulfmeadows" being "jumboized." A new and larger midsection is built while the ship is still in service. In dock, the old 160-ton midships house is moved to the ship's new cargo section (at left in photo 1). Separated from the stern (foreground, photo 2), the bow and old middle are floated out, and the new midsection floated in (photo 3) and welded on. The bow is finally cut off, welded in place, and the old, worn-out cargo section scrapped. Gulf is "jumboizing" nine ships in all, Amoco four, Socony-Mobil two, and other companies four in an initial program.

GULF'S "OPERATION STRETCH" AIMED AT "JUMBOIZING" ITS FIRST T-2 TANKER Shifting Midships House is First Step in Enlarging Ship. BALTIMORE, MD., March 17, 1957 - - - Shifting 160 tons of steel midships house (top to bottom) from the 16,000 ton tanker, "Gulfmeadows" to its new midbody while both hulls were afloat wasn't as easy as it looks. The initial step in Gulf Oil Corporation's program to enlarge nine of its T-2 tankers demanded an in genious technique. Locking the hulls together, then ballasting them twice to compen-sate for the shifting weight of the unwieldy structure as it slid across, provided the unique solution. "Jumboizing", the marine industry's term for making bigger tankers out of little ones by cutting the stern and bow away from the midbody and welding them to a new, longer and wider cargo section, has brought the "Gulfmeadows" to the final stage at Bethlehem Steel's Key Highway yard here. The welding of plates joining the now separated bow and new midbody, which has already been welded to the stern, will physically complete the joining of the first "jumboized" hull in a United States yard. This step is scheduled for the coming week.