Oklahoma was a steam tanker built in 1907-1908 by New York Shipbuilding Co. of Camden for the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company, with intention of transporting oil and petroleum products to ports along the East Coast of the United States and Europe. In January 1914 the tanker ran into a gale and broke in two and sank with a loss of twenty six men. Design and Construction Early in 1907 J. M. Guffey Petroleum Co. following planned expansion of their pipeline system from Oklahoma to Port Arthur, decided to add a large tanker of approximately 10,000 deadweight to its existing fleet of older vessels, enlarging their oil carrying capabilities. A contract for this vessel was awarded to the New York Shipbuilding Co. and Oklahoma was laid down at the builder's shipyard in Camden (yard number 53) and launched on 29 February 1908, with Miss Mildred Fessenden Taber of New York City, daughter of George H. Taber, general manager of the J. M. Guffey Co., serving as the sponsor. The ship was of the spar-deck type and had two main decks. The ship was equipped with wireless of De Forest type and submarine signal system, and had electrical lights installed along the decks. The tanker had her hold subdivided into sixteen cargo tanks fitted for carrying oil in bulk with a total capacity of approximately 2,520,000 gallons and had a cargo pump room with two duplex pumps located just aft of the main oil tanks. In addition, the tanker had eight extra compartments on the wings, with two of them being designed to carry freight cargo and the other six served as summer oil tanks. As built, the ship was long (between perpendiculars) and abeam, and had a depth of . Oklahoma was originally assessed at and and had deadweight of approximately 9,800. The vessel had a steel hull with double bottom extending under her forepeak and boiler room, and a single 424 Nhp (3,200 ihp) vertical triple expansion steam engine, with cylinders of , and diameter with a stroke, that drove a single screw propeller and moved the ship at up to . The steam for the engine was supplied by three single-ended Scotch boilers fitted for coal. At the time of her construction the vessel was one of the biggest tankers ever built in the United States. The sea trials were held from April 11 through April 13, during