Torrey Canyon
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Torrey Canyon |
| Owner: | Barracuda Tanker Corporation |
| Operator: | British Petroleum |
| Port of registry: |
 Liberia
|
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co |
| Yard number: | 532 |
| Laid down: | 1959 |
| Identification: | UK official number 536535 |
| Fate: | Sank after running aground on 18 March 1967 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Supertanker |
| Tonnage: | 61,263 GRT |
| Length: | 974.4 ft (297.0 m) |
| Beam: | 125.4 ft (38.2 m) |
| Draught: | 68.7 ft (20.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | Single shaft; steam turbine |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Capacity: | 120,000 tons of crude oil |
SS Torrey Canyon was an LR2 Suezmax Class oil tanker with a cargo capacity of 120,000 tons of crude oil. She was shipwrecked off the western coast of Cornwall, England, on 18 March 1967, causing an environmental disaster. At that time she was the largest vessel ever to be wrecked.
When laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in the USA in 1959, she had a capacity of 60,000 tons. However, the ship was later enlarged in Japan to 120,000 tons capacity.
At the time of the shipwreck she was owned by Barracuda Tanker Corporation, a subsidiary of the Union Oil Company of California, and registered in Liberia but chartered to British Petroleum. She was 974.4 feet (297.0 m) long, 125.4 feet (38.2 m) beam and had 68.7 feet (20.9 m) of draught..
On 19 February 1967, Torrey Canyon left the Kuwait National Petroleum Company refinery, at Mina Mina Al Ahmadi, Kuwait (later Al Ahmadi) on her final voyage with full cargo of crude oil. The ship reached the Canary Islands on 14 March. From there the planned route was to Milford Haven in Wales.
Torrey Canyon struck Pollard's Rock on Seven Stones reef, between the Cornish mainland and the Isles of Scilly, on 18 March. It became grounded and, several days later, began to break up.
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Wikipedia