SS Platano was a refrigerated banana boat of the United Fruit Company.[2] She was built in 1930, reflagged in 1947, renamed El Toro in 1965 and scrapped in 1966.[1]
Platano was built by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead, England, launched on 13 March 1930 and completed that June.[2] United Fruit had a sister ship, SS Musa, built in the same year by Workman, Clark of Belfast, Northern Ireland.[4]
Platano had turbo-electric transmission built by British Thomson-Houston
Platano was owned by a United Fruit subsidiary, Balboa Shipping Co, Inc, which registered her under the Panamanian flag of convenience.[2][3] In the Second World War the US War Shipping Administration allocated Platano and Musa to the United States Army Transportation Corps.[1]
On 18 February 1943 the Director of the Naval Transportation Service approved acquiring the two ships as United States Navy auxiliary ships and on 1 March the Auxiliary Vessels Board endorsed the decision.[1] On 16 March the Naval Transportation Service requested that Platano be assigned to the Navy and on 24 March the Auxiliary Vessels Board confirmed this had been done.[1]
Soon the plan was changed, with an older banana boat, SS Ulua being substituted for Musa.[1] On 22 April 1943 the Vice Chief of Naval Operations assigned Platano and Ulua the names and classifications USS Octans (AF-26) and USS Pictor (AF-27).[1] Ulua was duly acquired, renamed and commissioned into the Navy but Platano was not.[1] The Auxiliary Vessels Board decided on 22 May 1944 to cancel Platano's acquisition, and the cancellation was executed on 26 May.[1]
In 1947 United Fruit reflagged Platano from Panama to the Honduran flag of convenience.[1] By 1964 the company had transferred her from Balboa Shipping to another subsidiary, Empressa Hondurena de Vapores. She kept her original name until 1965, when she was renamed El Toro.[1] She was scrapped in 1966.[1]
