SS Ohio

SS Ohio

The SS Ohio was an oil tanker built for the Texas Oil Company, (now Texaco). The ship was launched on 20 April 1940 at the Sun Shipbuilding Yard in Chester, Pennsylvania. She was requisitioned by the Allied forces to re-supply the island fortress of Malta, during the Second World War.

The tanker played a fundamental role in Operation Pedestal, which was one of the fiercest and most heavily contested of the Malta Convoys, in August 1942. Although Ohio reached Malta successfully, she was so badly damaged that she had to be effectively scuttled in order to offload her cargo, and never sailed again. The tanker is fondly remembered in Malta, where to this day she is considered to be the saviour of the beleaguered island.