The Navy ran on Diesel-lots of it.  

Refueling at sea was a vital operation untaken by some of our finest men.

“RE-FUELING AT SEA”

The Destroyer Escorts driven by a steam powered turbo-electric systems or Diesel fuel had to refuel every 10 days at normal convoy speeds.  If you had to run at high speeds, you had to top off more frequently from the supply tankers or go to a near by seaport to a fueling dock (as the Azores Islands) or the British coastal seaports.

We also refueled from a tanker that had been sunk at the seaport near Oran, Algeria. .  Even this tanker with the bow blown away still had some value and was used as a temporary ship’s refueling dock.

A convoy to the North Africa coast required three to five re-fueling trips to a Navy Tanker in route.  This depended on Convoy speed.  You could only travel at the speed of the slowest ship.  Some of these ships were old and did only 7 to 8 knots and we also had a zig zag course to follow.

Refueling at sea required a lot of skill on conning the ship and keeping both the tanker and receiving ship in a straight run to maintain an equal distance and speed as fuel oil is transferred through a large hose under pumping pressure.  The first few times were nearly a disaster but the crew learned quickly and it soon became a routine operation.

Oil Spills Ruin “Pogy Bait Locker”

Several times during refueling we had small spills of fuel oil.  Some of the oil found its way into some of our food storage area.