SS Dordogne

SS Dordogne was a steam-powered oil tanker that served the French Navy.[1] She was formerly a British merchant ship, SS San Isidoro, of the Eagle Oil Transport Company.

History
United Kingdom; France
Name:	SS San Isidoro; SS Dordogne[1]
Namesake:	St. Isidore of Seville; Dordogne
Owner:	Eagle Oil & Shipping Co. Ltd. (1914);[2] French Navy[1] (1914–40)
Builder:	Armstrong Whitworth[3][4]
Yard number:	852[2]
Launched:	17 Dec 1913[3]
Completed:	Mar 1914
Out of service:	1940[3]
Identification:	IMO number 1136646[2]
Fate:	Scuttled 18 June 1940[3]
General characteristics
Class and type:	Oil tanker
Displacement:	7,333 tons; 12,500 DWT[5]
Length:	530 ft (160 m)[5]
Beam:	66 ft 6 in (20.27 m)[5]
Draught:	29 ft (8.8 m)[5]
Installed power:	4,100 IHP[5]
Propulsion:	single shaft driven by steam engine with two boilers[5]
Speed:	11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)[5]

History

In 1912 Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray founded the Eagle Oil Transport Company to transport oil from his Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company's oilfields in Mexico to the United Kingdom. The company ordered a fleet of 20 tankers from British shipyards. They included the sister ships San Isidoro and San Onofre from Armstrong Whitworth at Hebburn on the River Tyne in north-east England.

The French government bought SS San Isidoro in the year she was launched[2] and renamed her Dordogne.[3] She was scuttled at Brest in the Fall of France on 18 June 1940.[3]

References

1. Le Masson 1969, pp. 80, 82.
2. Helder, Kees (17 January 2007). "San Isidoro". Helder Line. Kees Helder. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
3. Le Masson 1969, p. 82.
4. "SS San Isidoro (1914)". www.tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
5. Le Masson 1969, p. 80.

Sources

• Le Masson, Henri (1969). The French Navy. Navies of the Second World War. 2. London: MacDonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. pp. 80–82. ISBN 9780356023847.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)