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Show PLAN TO RELEASE TM1ERS Shipping Board Announces Pacific Coast Vessels Given Up. ' NEW YORK, Doc. 21. Plans for the prompt release from government requisition requisi-tion of a part of the fleet of 174 tank steamships, eighteen of them Pacific coast vessels, with an approximate ag- Kregatc tonnage 0f 1,400,000 deadweight tons, were announced here today by the United States shipping board Only those required for supplying the army and navy of the United States with fuel - oil, it was stated, will be retained by the government. W. B. A. Walker, tank steamer executive execu-tive of the shipping control committee, in making the announcement said: "The shipping board further announces an-nounces that as to these tank steamships steam-ships which are now engaged in the owners own usual previous service, free from accounting, it will be the policy to have the release effective without delay. "As to all other tankers to be released, re-leased, the release will be effective upon the return and discharge, if with cargo, at a United States port as soon as practicable prac-ticable after the full settlement of commitments com-mitments already made or which may be found necessary to make, and where commitments or other reasons may necessitate ne-cessitate special treatment. "This announcement is to bo taken merely as a statement of policy, and the details as to the release of each tanker will be promptly taken up by tho. board with each tank steamer owner. ' ' The 174 tank steamships were requisitioned requi-sitioned by tho government in October, 1917, with other American ships, and were used for various purposes, but chiefly for supplying naval vessels and army transports with fuel oil from Mexico. It was further announced that Mr. Walker, Henry JI. Little, admiralty counsel, and Frank S. Martin, chairman of tli o board of supervising engineers of tho shipping board, had been named a committee to take the required stops to release the ships. |