via John Currin (JC ‘s Naval and Military) – Google+ Public Posts
Starting in 1898, the Navy began experimenting with ways to transfer coal from colliers to battleships, spending 15 years trying different methods to perfect an at-sea transfer system. A system of alongside refueling of liquid fuel dates to 1917, when then-Lieutenant Chester Nimitz jury rigged a system with ship booms supporting two hoses between the ships. Using this system, the USS Maumee (AO2) transferred fuel to 34 destroyers during a three-month period during World War I. Incredibly, these fuel transfers were done with only a 40-foot separation between the moving ships.