| History | |
|---|---|
 Liberia | |
| Name | Hercules |
| Owner | United Carriers Inc. of Liberia |
| Builder | Hitachi Zosen Corporation |
| Completed | February 1971 |
| Out of service | 20 July 1982 |
| Fate | Scuttled in Guanabara Bay, Brazil |
| Charterer | Amerada |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Very large crude carrier |
| Tonnage | 220,000 DWT |
| Length | 1,067 ft (325 m) |
| Beam | 150 ft (46 m) |
| Draft | 60 ft (18 m) |
Hercules was a Japanese-built and Liberian-owned very large crude carrier launched in 1970 and completed the following year. She was chartered from 1977 by Amerada to carry fuel from Alaska to the Hovensa oil refinery in the United States Virgin Islands. On 8 June 1982, she was traversing the South Atlantic, en route to collect a load of crude oil, when she was attacked three times by Argentine aircraft. She was severely damaged by air-to-surface missiles and struck by two bombs that failed to detonate. Listing, she put into port in Brazil so that the damage could be assessed; it was determined that it was too dangerous to move an unexploded bomb lodged in one of her oil tanks. Her owner, United Carriers, decided to scuttle the vessel off the Brazilian coast. Claims by United Carriers and Amerada failed to reach Argentine courts, and an attempt to claim jurisdiction for a case to proceed in US courts eventually failed after a Supreme Court decision.