Construction

The ship is of welded steel construction, full scantling type, single screw, machinery amidships, with raked stem and modified cruiser stern. The main hull is subdivided by seven watertight transverse bulkheads with three holds forward and two holds aft of the machinery space. The vessel meets the Maritime Administration requirements for a two-compartment ship. There are three complete decks in the hull, with platforms and deep tank tops at various levels. The A, Promenade, Sun and Bridge Decks and the house top form the midship house, which extends for approximately one-third of the ship's length.

Propulsion Plant

The vessel is single screw with geared turbine propelling machinery located in the machinery space amidships. The steam cycle employed uses a high-efficiency, cross-compound turbine, four stages of regenerative feed heating, and high-efficiency boilers fitted with rotary regenerative air heaters. This basic cycle arrangement is one which has demonstrated satisfactory performance and reliability on a number of American ships, such as the Barrett Class MSTS transports (Bay State, Empire State and State of Maine.) A more complete description of the engineering systems aboard may be found in the Engineering Training Manual.

Cargo-Handling Systems

Provision was made for carrying bananas or palletized cargo in holds 1, 3 and 4, and carrying of containers in holds 2 and 5, and in one cell group in holds 3 and 4. Automobiles could be carried in holds 3 and 4.

The bananas were loaded through sideports, manually or by horizontal conveyors, to the top of vertical conveyors by which they were transferred to the lower `tween decks where they were discharged and stowed manually. Bananas were discharged by manual loading at each deck into the vertical conveyors and by automatic discharge at B Deck on to short transfer conveyors, thence on to horizontal conveyors through the sideports to the dock.

The containers stowed in holds 2 and 5, in portions of holds 3 and 4, and on deck, were handled by four "C" type gantry cranes. Basically the ship was designed for 20-ft. standard containers (19' 10-1/2" long) and either 8 or 8 1/2-ft. in height. In addition, the inboard cells in holds 2 and 5 were arranged for ready adjustment for the stowage of 40-ft. containers alternatively to the 20-ft. containers. Also deck stowage was provided for 17, 20 and 40-ft. containers. The container capacity was as follows:

• If all were 20-ft. long, 175
  
• If 20-ft. below deck and 40-ft. on deck, 147

Four 20 ton capacity deck cranes were provided, two forward and two aft, to handle the containers in holds Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 and on the main deck forward and aft. The cranes were of the traveling gantry type, running on crane rails located port and starboard near the ship's side.

The gantry cranes were of the "C" type having one open end which permits marrying of two cranes to handle large vans. Another novel feature in the crane design was a counterbalancing arrangement whereby the machinery trolley moves in the opposite direction to the load trolley so that in the empty condition, the crane was essentially counterbalanced.

The sideports, gantry cranes and the vertical conveyors were removed during the conversion to training ship use. Remnents of the vertical conveyers and sideports can still be seen in four hold.