From World War II to Korea to Vietnam to Desert Storm and Iraq, the machinery of war has depended on the steady delivery of oil, in all its forms, to ships, trains, tanks, planes, trucks, weapons, and the supply lines. And that oil is delivered by tankers. America’s tanker industry began shortly after the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859, grew through the early 20th century, and became standardized during World War II with the development of the T-type tanker — the T1s, T2s and T3s.

Inside this volume is everything that is known about the “T” tankers. It begins with the history of the U.S. emergency shipbuilding program which started in the 1930s and the evolution of transporting oil by sea. But the main focus is on the ships. Every T-type ship is accounted for — from A (A.W. Peake) to Z (Zephyrhills) — including who or what she was named for, and all the other names she became known under, cross-referenced and comprehensively listed in the indexes. There are diagrams, specifications and almost 300 photos and illustrations. The Tankers is truly “the last word” on the T-type tankers, and the most complete. It is also a reader-friendly book, with clean type on high-quality paper, avoiding codes and abbreviations, and setting forth the information in clear language.

This is the third volume in Capt. Jaffee’s monumental series on the Maritime Commission’s wartime ship-building program and that of its successor, the Maritime Administration. The other volumes are The Liberty Ships From A to Z and The Victory Ships From A to Z.

THE TANKERS from A (A.W. Peake) to Z (Zephyrhills) is a large-format book, 528 pages on high-quality stock. It is a comprehensive reference for everything known about all 721 T-type tankers including a separate index of every name a ship sailed under. You can find your ship — or your father’s or grandfather’s — as you discover the indispensable role of Tankers in American history.

THE TANKERS from A (A.W. Peake) to Z (Zephyrhills)

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 8 1/2 x 11, 528 pp., 300 photos & illus., biblio., index
• ISBN 978-1-889901-43-5
• Price: $140

Between 1853 and 1953, ships of all types – clipper ships, barks, schooners, steamers — sailing the central California Coast fell victim to Pigeon Point’s unpredictable weather and rocky shoreline. Mariners knew the hazards well. Engulfed in the dense “pea soup” fog common along these shores, navigational readings were often unreliable. Even signals from fog horns and other vessels could be easily misinterpreted. Shipwrecks tell their own unique stories. Sailors and salvagers, hard work and bad luck, business schemes and personal dreams all appear. Yet, each represents more than colorful sea lore. Each shipwreck is an important portal to our past, a significant part of our maritime heritage, linking us to unforgettable times. If it is true that every ship has her own soul, then every shipwreck has a spirit waiting to be rediscovered. It is a voyage worth taking.

SHIPWRECKS, SCALAWAGS, AND SCAVENGERS; THE STORIED WATERS OF PIGEON POINT

by JoAnn Semones

• Hard-cover, 160 pages, 70 photos and illustrations.
• ISBN 978-1-889901-42-8
• Price: $24.95

The fortuitous accident of the California Gold Rush assured the fortunes of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and its wooden steamers, which carried passengers, mail, high value freight, and gold. Later, the riches of the Far East began to arrive in San Francisco aboard larger PMSS ships, as did increasing numbers of Asian immigrants. The city, the nation and the Pacific were forever changed. There has not been an in-depth look at this venerable line for more than fifty years. The authors have now done so in this magnificent new monograph.

GOLD, SILK, PIONEERS & MAIL; the story of Pacific Mail Steamship Company

by Robert J. Chandler and Stephen J. Potash

• Softcover, 8 ½ x 11, 64 pages, 60+ photos and illustrations.
• ISBN 9781-889901-41-1
• Price: $25.00

The legendary luxury liner SS America was known as America’s symbolic Ship of State. Her voyages over four decades as a luxury liner on the Atlantic run, as the troopship USS West Point, and as the SS Australis on round-the-world voyages brought her lasting fame and the undying affection of her thousands of passengers.

In this book, filled with photos, the reader comes into the shipyard to watch her being built; “on-board” to experience her voyages as a luxury liner, as a troopship, on her globe-girdling runs; and, finally, to her resting place on the bleak shores of the Canary Islands.

SS AMERICA - USS WEST POINT - SS AUSTRALIS
The Many Lives of a Great Ship

by Lawrence Driscoll

• Hard cover, 256 pp, 160 photos and illus.
• ISBN 1-889901-30-X
• Price: $35

From the early 1900s until World War II, the triple-screw turbines Harvard and Yale were the ne plus ultra of American coastwise travel. Designed in Scotland, built in American yards, the White Flyers were the first wave of turbine-powered steamships in the U.S. Palatial, super-express vessels, they ran on both the east and west coasts, setting new standards for comfort and entertainment.

THE WHITE FLYERS, HARVARD and YALE, American Coastwise Travel

by George F. Gruner

• Hard cover, 192 pp, 130+ illustrations
• ISBN 1-889901-26-1
• Price: $29.95

This is a new history of the Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien. Built in 56 days, launched in the midst of World War II, she was expected to serve for five years at most — if she was lucky. This new edition spans the O'Brien's historic voyages from the battlegrounds of Europe and the North Atlantic, the awesome preparations for D-Day and 11 landings on the beaches of Normandy. Then across a half century to her second life as a national landmark and her return to Normandy in 1994. As the last survivor of the great D-Day armada, she was the “centerpiece” of the 50^th Anniversary events in England and France.

SS JEREMIAH O’BRIEN,
The History of a Liberty Ship from the Battle of the Atlantic to the 21^st Century

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 416 pp., 200+ photos & illus., biblio., index
• ISBN 1-889901-33-4.
• Price: $35

SS LANE VICTORY served in three wars — World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. You are aboard on her wartime runs and share the sorrow, fear, excitement, boredom and terror that are the life of a ship and its crews in wartime. Then come aboard the Lane, in her second life as an active musuem ship and “movie star” as she serves as a stage for TV and Hollywood films, and makes cruises that bring her history alive.

THE LANE VICTORY

A Victory Ship in War and in Peace

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 448 pp, 119 photos
• ISBN 0-9637586-9-4
• Price: $30

This is the story of one of the most remarkable sea battles of World War II: a lone American Liberty freighter with one World War I-era cannon and a few machine guns, taken by surprise by two heavily-armed German warships. In a fierce twenty-two minute battle, under heavy attack, aflame and sinking, the Stephen Hopkins guns kept firing, destroying the raider and damaging the blockade runner. It is a story of extraordinary valor under the direst of circumstances.

ACTION IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC ; the Sinking of the German Raider Stier by the Liberty Ship Stephen Hopkins.

by Gerald Reminick

• Hard cover, 6 x 9, 320 pp., 100+ photos, charts & illus., biblio, index
• ISBN 978-1-889901-38-1
• Price: $29.95

The Liberty ships were the backbone of the Allied supply lines in World War II. Millions of tons of war materiel were needed on battlefronts around the world. The full might of U.S. industrial power was brought to bear and, “built by the mile and chopped off by the yard,” 2,710 Libertys sailed out of American shipyards to deliver the goods. From Murmansk to the great D-Day invasion; in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war; from Iwo Jima and the Leyte landings to the invasion of Okinawa, Libertys were the “bridge of ships” that helped the Allies win the war.

The Liberty Ships from A (A.B. Hammond) to Z (Zona Gale) is the result of over five years of exhaustive research and contains everything known about Liberty ships, every single one: who named for; where built, launched, delivered; type engine, operator, wartime history, postwar service; what ultimately happened to each ship. Cross-referenced and indexed under every name each ship was known under, with over 400 photos, this is truly “the last word” on Liberty ships with special chapters on the two Liberty ship museums.

This is a large-size, reader-friendly book, with clean type on high-quality paper, and avoids codes and abbreviations.

THE LIBERTY SHIPS from A (A.B. Hammond) to Z (Zona Gale)

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 8 1/2 x 11, 736 pp., 400+ photos & illus., biblio., index
• ISBN 1-889901-25-3
• Price: $145

The Victory ships were a major part of the Allied thrust in the Pacific during the last eighteen months of World War II. They supported the great battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, then brought thousands of servicemen home again in “Operation Magic Carpet.” But the fast, versatile Victory ships were also built for the future, and for decades were a mainstay of the merchant fleets of the United States and her wartime allies. Victorys supported the atomic bomb tests, scientific expeditions to the Antarctic, supply missions to the Arctic, the space missile program. They stood by during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Arab-Israeli war and supplied the U.S. military during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

This comprehensive work is the result of five years’ research by Capt. Jaffee into government records, published works, oral histories and other sources. It is everything known about all 534 Victory ships: how the Victory ship program developed; design and specifications; when and where built; engine, operator, wartime and postwar history; every name and owner the ship sailed under; what finally happened to each ship. Special chapters on the three Victory ship museums. All the ships (and all names they became known under) are cross-referenced and indexed.

This is a large-size, reader-friendly book, with clean type on high-quality paper, and avoids codes and abbreviations.

THE VICTORY SHIPS from A (Aberdeen Victory) to Z (Zanesville Victory)

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 8 ½ x 11, 416 pp., 300+ photos & illus., biblio., index.
• ISBN 978-1-889901-37-4
• Price: $120

A behind-the-scenes look at merchant ship operations through the history of the Mission Santa Ynez from her launching in 1943 to final lay-up. Thirty-four ships in the Mission tanker class were built; only the Ynez remains. Learn the fate of her 33 sisters and how the Ynez beat the odds.

THE LAST MISSION TANKER

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Soft cover, 80 pp, 33 photos & illustrations
• ISBN 0-9637586-5-9
• Price: $9.95