High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The T2 tanker, or T2, was an oil tanker constructed and produced in large quantities in the United States during World War II. The largest "navy oilers" after the T3s at the time, nearly 500 of them were built between 1940 and the end of 1945. Many of them remained in service for decades after the war and like other World War II ships pressed into peace time service were the subject of safety concerns. A U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation in 1952 stated they were prone to splitting in two in cold weather and the ships were then "belted" with steel straps. This occurred after two T-2s, the SS Pendleton and the SS Fort Mercer split in two off Cape Cod within hours of each other. Scientific inquiries into the problems suggested at first the tendency of the tankers to split in two was due to poor welding techniques. Later, it was concluded that the steel used in the war time construction had too high a sulfur content that turned the steel brittle at lower temperatures.