The Suamico class were a class of 25 United States Navy oilers during World War II. Built to the Maritime Commission T2-SE-A1 (Suamico class), -A2 (Escambia class) and -A3 (Cohocton) designs, they used turbo-electric transmission, obviating the need for reduction gearing which was a major issue in US mass-production shipbuilding. Construction The Suamicos Just before the war the United States Maritime Commission had developed a standardized tanker design, the T2, which could be mass-produced in time of war, and militarized as needed for naval auxiliaries. The T2 was given sufficient engine power to attain , which the Navy considered the minimum required for a fleet oiler. The T2 and its variants (see ) however used conventional geared steam turbine propulsion, and with the massive expansion of US shipbuilding, a production bottleneck developed: the limited availability of the precision machinery needed to manufacture reduction gearing. The Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Chester, Pennsylvania worked around this problem by designing a T2 variant which used turbo-electric propulsion; that is, the steam turbine ran a generator, which in turn powered electric drive motors without the need for gearing. Compared to conventional geared turbines turbo-electric systems produced less power for the same size and weight, so Sun's T2-SE (steam-electric)-A1 design could only develop 6,000 shaft horsepower for 14 knots, but since commercial tankers typically only did 12–13 knots this was acceptable. Acknowledging the practicality of the design for merchant service, the Maritime Commission ordered 72 T2-SE-A1s from four shipyards in May 1941. Ultimately 536 T2-SEs would be built, the most-produced tanker design in history. On 9 June 1942, Admiral Nimitz indicated an immediate need for four more fleet oilers. The War Shipping Board requisitioned the last remaining T2 and T2-A tankers still in commercial service, Catawba and Aekay, and, with reservations given their limited speed, two nearly-complete Sun T2-SE-A1s, Harlem Heights and Valley Forge. These were commissioned as USS Suamico (AO-49) and Tallulah (AO-50). In August, with the fourteen repeats of the big still a year from completion, the Navy took over the next two T2-SEs off Sun's ways, Oriskany and Stillwater, renamed Pecos (AO-65) and Cache (AO-67). On 7 August the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended that the Navy add two oilers per month for a period of six months. While fifteen of the 15.3-knot T3-S-A1 type had been ordered by the Maritime Commission, only five (the ) would be completed in time,