WAW003418 WALES (1946). View of the beached ship Tillamook, a memorial to which was erected at the Prince of Wales Inn, Kenfig. Oblique aerial photograph, 5½" cut roll film.

The SS Tillamook was a class 'T2' tanker built in 84 days, completed 14 Feb 1944, by the Kaiser Company at Swan Island Yard, Portland, Oregon. One of 533 of the T2 class of armed tankers built in the US during the Second World War. 'On the 30th November 1946 the oil tanker ‘Tillamook’ left Swansea Docks for the Persian Gulf but she encountered severe weather conditions in the Bristol Channel overnight, and by the following day she had been driven hard aground near Sker Point. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to free the ‘Tillamook’, but these were hampered by winter storms and she was not refloated until the 6th February 1947. Minus her rudder which had been lost in the incident, the ‘Tillamook’ was towed into Swansea Docks for inspection, after which the owners decided to transfer the tanker to the USA for repair.' See: www.swanseadocks.co.uk/docksnewsite/contribgareth7.htm After repairs in 1947 and a number of years of use, she was 'jumboised' to increase her width and length. Renamed 'Colorado', she then continued in use for many more years until eventually being scrapped in Mumbai in 2000. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T2_tanker https://www.freightwaves.com/news/maritime-history-notes-jumboized-t-2-tankers https://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id602.htm