VLCC Amoco Milford Haven c/s 6ZYB

Article by Radio Officer Riccardo MEMEO now PA5MX

in the picture above the radio room of the VLCC Amoco Milford Haven/6ZYB, which was one of four sister ships built by Astilleros Españoles in Cadiz between 1973 and 1975. They had a DWT of 232164 tons and shared of course similar radio rooms. On march 16th 1978 the Amoco Cadiz, while on route to Lyme Bay run aground on the coast of Bretagne in France as a result of the rudder breakdown. The Amoco Milford Haven self, on april 1991, when named just Haven and no longer belonging to the Amoco fleet, sunk in the Ligurian sea.

Details of the radio equipments, from left to right and from bottom to top of the radio console: main receiver ITT Mackay 3020A, above it, the scanning receiver for selective calls, then the emergency receiver Eddystone EY11, then the battery charger and the emgy transmitter ITT whose type I don’t remember. On the next row we have: the secondary RX Drake MSR2, above it the Autokey, then the ITT Vhf, then a control panel for receiving aerials and to switch phone calls (outside the radio room there was a telephone boot where the crew could make their calls), and above it the AA receiver with the station clock. The third row of the console was the main transmitter ITT Standard ST-1400 with 1200 Watts output and the switch for transmitting aerials. At extreme left, just before the console, there was the small control panel for selective call, used to call each other vessel within the Amoco fleet or to call Lorain Radio Ohio/WMI, when needed, to contact the main office of Amoco Shipping in Chicago. It was a very good radio room.

Above the Rendez-vous with helicopter passing Capetown, bound to the Persian Gulf, to pick up fresh provisions and, most of all, the crew mail. It was 1975, therefore no mobile telephone and no internet yet, the radio officers were still very busy!

73

R/O Riccardo MEMEO