Manhattan

(Carat C-096VR)

Service: Built for Humble Oil & Refining Co., Manhattan was the largest merchant ship to fly the American flag, and the largest commercial ship built in the United States. Converted to an icebreaking tanker in 1969 with the installation of a new icebreaking bow and a heavy ice belt to protect the sides of the ship from icefloes. The ship, originally 940 feet long, was cut into four sections at Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock; one section was towed to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, and another to Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding, to speed the work. When rejoined at Sun, she was 65 feet longer, 16 feet wider, and 9,000 tons heavier than she began.
In September 1969 she became the first commercial ship to make the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean via the Prince of Wales Strait to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, as a test of whether a fleet of such ships could move the newly discovered Alaskan oil to East Coast ports without building a trans-Alaska pipeline. Returned to New York in November, and subsequently made a second trip, but it was decided that this was not a cost-effective way to move Alaskan crude to market.
Manhattan returned to regular service until 1987, when she grounded at Yosu, South Korea, during the passage of typhoon "Thelma". She was refloated and sold to Chinese shipbreakers.