Boats - Sailing - Ships
May 12, 1952 - The Esso Spain, the biggest tanker built in Europe, hitherto..with 88, 000 tonnage, has been launched, this morning, at the Howaldtwerft in Hamburg. Godmother was Mrs. J.M.B. Howard, wife of the director of the Esso Tanker Inc, new York. Everything at that super tanker is above the dimension. The four-bladed screw weighs 34 tons, at a diameter of 7, 5 metres. The vast blade weighs even more than 70 tons. About 22, 500 tons of iron and steel were processed into the giant, in a million manhours. Ops: after nine months, the Esso Spain was ready to be launched, the fitting out of the 260 metres long, 38 metres broad and 19 metres high tanker will take up four more months. At the end August or early in September, the turbine tanker is supposed to be delivered to its shipping firm, a subsidiary company of the Esso-combine
