and so the Navy filled out the requirement with another seven T2-SE-A1s, AO-73 through 79, the first of which were acquired on the last day of 1942. The Escambias During the spring and summer of 1942, a period German U-boat captains called "the happy time," tankers were being sunk in the Atlantic faster than they could be built. In response, on 27 July the Maritime Commission decided that the new Marinship yard at Sausalito, California, created to produce Liberty ships, would construct T2-SE tankers instead, with an initial order of 22. However, there simply were not enough of the specified generator plants available. On the other hand, General Electric indicated its ability to provide the larger turbo-electric plants designed for the P2-SE2-R1 Admiral-class fast transports, and Marinship's naval architects modified the original Sun design to make room for the larger installation. The Marin T2-SE-A2's engineering spaces were cramped, but it all fit; better yet, the new design was capable of speeds in excess of . By the end of the year the Navy, unenthusiastic about the slower Suamicos, was eager to acquire the more powerful new version and requisitioned the first nine, which were launched starting in April 1943 and after conversion as fleet oilers started commissioning in October, as AO-80, USS Escambia, through AO-88. The Maritime Commission followed its initial order of 22 T2-SE-A2s with another for 18 more; the Navy would acquire six of these as AO-91 through 96. By the time these started entering service in late 1944 the Navy was finding that fresh water was becoming more of a problem in the Pacific than fuel; accordingly Pasig and Abatan were converted to water-distilling ships (AW-3 and 4), and Soubarissen into a water tanker. The A3s On 16 October 1944 the Chief of Naval Operations recommended that the Maritime Commission building program for the last half of 1945 be modified to provide for the construction of nine additional oilers for the Navy. On 2 November 1944 the MC added to its program the construction of four ships at Marinship to the 10,000-horsepower T2-SE-A3 design together with five T3s at Bethlehem Steel. The T2-SE-A3 type was essentially an A2 built to Navy standards from the start rather than being modified later (converting a civilian tanker to a Navy fleet oiler represented an additional 4–6 months' work after delivery). The last three ships were completed without these features, after