Commercial operators linked to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and Anglo-Saxon Petroleum ran ships built or adapted under Ministry of War Transport direction. The tanker MAC ships were slower than the grain group and carried only three or four aircraft, with sea conditions sometimes deciding how many could operate. Their deck-only arrangement reduced conversion complexity but denied maintainers the shelter and support of a hangar. The added crew and aviation fittings did not destroy the tanker's commercial value: ships could lose the flight deck and return to ordinary oil service for many years after 1945.
Chapter · 25:48-30:30
Tanker conversions traded support facilities for speed
The tanker MAC ships were slower and lacked hangars, but their simple flight-deck conversion preserved useful postwar merchant hulls.