1952 T2 tanker fracture off Cape Cod

Seven- or eight-year-old T2 tanker broke completely in two off Cape Cod in 1952; most of the crew survived. Tom references the Hollywood adaptation *The Finest Hours*.

The Navy was very concerned about this. Hollywood was excited about this in more recent times — The Finest Hours, about the Coast Guard. In 1952 one of these — actually it wasn't one of the Liberty ships, it was a T2 tanker. When we talk about the Liberty ships, the oil tankers were T2 tankers and the Liberty ships were classed together. One of these tankers that was only seven or eight years old, off Cape Cod in 1952, broke in two. The people were stuck on half a ship. It completely broke in two, and nearly everyone survived — you can watch the movie. It's a true story of what happened to these ships. The Navy was concerned, so they commissioned this report that's going around.