Replenishment Oiler - History of Design

History of Design

The development of the oiler paralleled the change from coal- to oil-fired boilers in warships. Prior to the adoption of oil fired machinery, navies could extend the range of their ships either by maintaining coaling stations or for warships to raft together with colliers and for coal to be manhandled aboard. Though arguments related to fuel security were made against such a change, the ease with which liquid fuel could be transferred led in part to its adoption by navies world wide.

The forerunner of the modern replenishment oiler was a Kriegsmarine (German Navy) ship, the Dithmarschen, which was built in 1938. The Dithmarschen was designed to provide both fuel and stores (including munitions) to the German fleet. After World War II she was claimed by the United States as a war prize and commissioned into the United States Navy as the USS Conecuh (AOR-110). The ship proved the feasibility and flexibility of this sort of vessel in supporting task forces at sea.

The fast combat support ship (AOE) was developed first by the United States Navy as a logistics support vessel for aircraft carrier task forces, but the resulting vessel, while capable of high speed and of maintaining station as a component in the task force, was at the time the most expensive auxiliary ship ever procured by the United States Navy. For other applications not requiring high speed, such as anti-submarine groups, a smaller, less capable but much less expensive variant was desirable. This variant was the Wichita class AOR.