Exxon Valdez

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Exxon Valdez was the original name (later Sea River Mediterranean and eventually Mediterranean) of an oil tanker owned by the former Exxon Corporation. It gained widespread infamy after the March 24 1989 oil spill in which the tanker, captained by Joseph Hazelwood, hit Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil. This has been recorded as one of the largest spills in U.S. history and one of the largest ecological disasters.

The vessel had an all steel construction, built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego. A relatively new tanker at the time of the spill, it was delivered to Exxon in December 1986. The tanker was 300 m long, 50 m wide, and 27 m in depth (987 ft by 166 ft by 88 ft), weighing 30,000 tons empty and powered by a 31,650 shp (23.60 MW) diesel engine. The ship could transport a maximum of 1.48 million barrels (200,000 t) at a sustained speed of 16.25 knots (30 km/h) and was employed to transport crude oil from the Alyeska consortium's pipeline terminal in Valdez, Alaska, to the lower 48 states of the United States. The vessel was carrying about 1.26 million barrels, or about 53 million gallons, at the time it ran aground.

After the spill, the Exxon Valdez was towed to San Diego, arriving on July 10 and repairs began onboard on June 30, 1989. Approximately 1,600 tons of steel were removed and replaced in the month of July 1989, totaling $30 million of repairs to the tanker.

After being repaired, the Valdez was renamed the "Sea River Mediterranean," later shortened to "S/R Mediterranean," then to simply "Mediterranean" and sailed under the Marshall Island flag. Although Exxon tried to return the ship to its Alaskan fleet, it was prohibited by law from entering Prince William Sound.

Exxon Valdez in popular culture

In the last scenes of the movie Waterworld when Kevin Costner sinks the smokers large ship, just before it disappears, you can see on the stern of the ship its moniker, 'Exxon Valdez'. Also the inhabitors of this ship in the movie (called the smokers) worship a man called St Joe after the ship's captain.

Australian rock band Midnight Oil staged a Manhattan concert in front of Exxon headquarters with Greenpeace.

One of the levels in the game Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition happens in the Valdez tanker

References

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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 11:45:48 PDT (GMT -0700)
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