World War II Liberty Ships

One of these Liberty Ships was the Thomas J. Rusk (J for Jefferson) and was an EC2-S-C1 type. Other ships build by Houston Shipbuilding Corporation were the Sam Houston, Davy Crockett and James Bowie as a nod to Texas history.

Quite a few were named after Civil War persons such as Matthew Maury, Winfield Scott, A.P. Hill, James Longstreet, Joseph E. Johnston, J.E.B. Stuart, John B. Hood and Fitzhugh Lee.

Also, one was christened the Amelia Earhart.

To get an idea how fast these ships could be built, the Rusk had its keel laid 3 Sep 1942, was launched 11 Nov 1942 and delivered 26 Nov 1942.

One Liberty Ship was possibly the only one ever named after a living person. Francis J. O'Gara was the purser on the Jean Nicolet which was sunk by a Japanese submarine. It was thought that he had died, but he returned from a Japanese POW camp after the war.

Building 'Em Fast. --Cooter

World War II Shipwrecks Could Threaten US Coast-- Part 2

Continued from Friday July 29th.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is taking inventory on more than 30,000 coastal wrecks, including many from the 1942 Battle of the Atlantic and the rest of the war. They want to identify those that pose the biggest threats.

Those vessels not completely destroyed in attacks have intact fuel tanks, and many, like the Steed, sank with holds filled with crude oil, diesel fuel and explosives.

They have narrowed the worst threat list to 233 wrecks and hope to have a final list by the end of the year.

Four of the worst wrecks are located within 50 miles of Baltimore, including"

** John Morgan, a Liberty ship built in 1943 by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore. On its maiden voyage, June 1943, it collided with another vessel off Cape Henry and sank with a cargo of fighter planes, tanks, arms and ammunition. Sixty-seven crew members and guards died.

More to Come. --Cooter

What Was the Mothball Fleet?-- Part 2

About time I got around to finishing this. Part 1 was on August 27th.

Five of the ships at Wilmington's Mothball Fleet had to be ready to sail at a moment's notice. The others were mothballed by being coated with red oxide paint, oil and varnish to prevent rust and decay.

The US Maritime took over control of the ships in 1950 from the Maritime Commission and employed 296 workers with a $600,000 a year payroll to take care of the ships. Many were armed guards to prevent the theft of valuable copper and brass fittings.

The ships were lashed and anchored together in groups of five with every fifth one then moored next to pilings.

Two of the Mothball ships broke loose during Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and drifted into the Cape Fear River channel.

December 8, 1958, the SS Edgecomb, a Victory ship, became the last vessel to be tied up in the fleet. Beginning that year, older and less-fit ships began to be sold off for scrap and others were moved to the James River fleet in Virginia.

By 1964, only 152 were left and four years later the number was down to 15.

The last ship, the SS Dwight W. Morrow was towed away on Feb. 27, 1970.

The Final Wind-Down of World War II. --DaCoot

What Was the Mothball Fleet?-- Part 2

Way back on August 27th, I started this entry. Now is a good time to finish it since we're about out of September. From the January 20th Wilmington Star-News My Reporter by Ben Stillman.

People write in questions and reporters research and answer them.

After World War II, there was a huge reserve fleet anchored by Wilmington, North Carolina. They were there in case they were needed in a future war. Sometimes the fleet was referred to as the Mothball Fleet as well as Ghost Fleet.

A total of 628 vessels, mostly Liberty Ships, were tied up there from 1946 to 1970. Also, 68 Victory Ships (the successor of the Liberty Ships), tankers and 41 others were tied up as well.

There are still a few Ghost Fleets left in the US, and every so often, you hear of a World War II ship being towed off for dismantling. They have digressed to the point that they now pose an environmental threat.

But, you still hate to hear about their demise.

More to Come, But It Won't be Another Month This Time. --DaCoot

What Was the Mothball Fleet?-- Part 1

From the Jan. 20th MyReporter in the Wilmington (NC) Star News.

The "Mothball Fleet" was officially called the National defense Reserve Fleet, but very often simply the "Ghost Fleet."

The one by Wilmington was anchored in rows in the Brunswick River and described as the second largest ship graveyard in the world. The first largest was in the James River in Virginia near Hampton Roads by the Chesapeake Bay.

After Wold War II, the US Maritime Commission established the Reserve Fleet Basin to primarily house Liberty Ships and others after demobilization. The first one at Wilmington was the SS John B. Bryce which arrived August 12, 1946. Eventually 426 more ships joined it, the most ever at one time.

Ships moved in and out. In all, there were 628, many built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company.

There were also 68 Victory Ships and 41 others, including tankers.

Five were always kept completely ready to go at a moment's notice.

More to Come. --Cooter

The Repairs of the Battleship USS North Carolina-- Part 2

From the June 10th WWAY TV.

The USS North Carolina has been sitting for decades in the Cape Fear River mud and is now in dire need of work on the hull. Plans until now had it being towed to Norfolk or Charleston for dry docking.

The ship's commander, Terry Bragg said, "If you take it away it would leave us with nothing but a big hole in the ground." They have come up with a way to keep the battleship in Wilmington and save $11 million. They now intend to build a cofferdam around the ship with work starting this fall and continuing for three years.

Bragg believes that if the North Carolina Shipyard could build all those Liberty Ships in Wilmington during World War II, they can restore the hull of one battleship.

Sounds Like a Win-Win Situation to Me. --Cooter

Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation

Last month, I wrote about the USS Gage being launched from the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation yards in Portland, Oregon. Sad to see that it met its fate in Brownsville, Texas, just this past month.

The Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation was one of several emergency shipyards established by the US government to provide the ships needed to carry our soldiers and munitions across the seas to battle the Axis.

Wikipedia led me to believe that 1000 Victory and Liberty ships were built at this place between 1941 and 1945, but I think that is a high number. The company closed down at the end of the war.

More to Come. --Cooter

Liberty Ship SS William D. Pender

In my Civil War Blog http://sawtheelephant.blogspot.com this date, I was writing about Confederate General W. D. Pender who was mortally wounded the second day at Gettysburg. July 7th. I found out that a Liberty Ship built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington was named after him. Its engines, like the SS Calvin Coolidge, which I wrote about earlier this month, also came from the General Machinery Corporation of Hamilton, Ohio. The ship was scrapped in Baltimore in 1960. Just Another Liberty Ship. --Da Coot

Some More on Liberty Ship Calvin Coolidge

I found another source which said it was built in Portland, Maine by the South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, East Yard, EC2-S-C1 Type.

It was hull #773, the sixth one constructed, WSAT (550) USAT. WSAT stood for War Shipping Transportation Administration. The number in parentheses was the number of troops it could carry, and the USAT was Army Transportation Service.

The engine was made at General machine Corporation in Hamilton, Ohio and the ship was scrapped in 1965. As of yet, I haven't found anymore about its war or postwar career. Was it sold to a company or another country? Was it laid up at one of the eight or so reserve areas like Wilmington NC?

I found the number 2.43 connected to the name, but no explanation as to what it might be.

Liberty Ships-- An Often Overlooked, But Big Reason for the Victory in World War II. --Cooter

Liberty Ship Calvin Coolidge

I couldn't find out much about the Liberty Ship Calvin Coolidge.

It was built by the New England Shipbuilding Corporation which operated 13 ways for construction. The hull was laid 19 October 1942 and was launched 2 January 1943 and delivered 4 February 1943. During the war, the company built 236 standard ships, 8 boxed aircraft transports, and 30 Ocean Class (British Liberty Ships).

There was a first SS President Coolidge which was launched as an ocean liner in 1930 and christened in 1931 by Mrs. Grace Coolidge, the wife of the president. It was taken into government service and sank October 26, 1942, after hitting a US-laid mine off Espiratu Santo in the Pacific Ocean, while carrying 5,000 troops. Fortunately, there was only the loss of two, but much equipment went under. The ship's commander, Captain Henry Nelson came under a lot of flack for the incident.

This is from Reverend Floyd McIntyre of North Springfield, Vermont, whose father was one of the survivors. He says the wreck remains a popular dive site.

LIBERTY SHIP CALVIN COOLIDGE



On June 19, 1945, there was an incident in the northeast Atlantic but no deaths.

January 15, 1945, two crew members were killed while ashore in the Mediterranean.

During the war, 2,751 Liberty Ships were launched.

All I Could Find. --Cooter

WW II Scrap Metal Drive

The May 28th Burlington (Vt) Free Press had an article by Wilson Ring, AP.

In the fall of 1942, there was a scrap metal drive in Vermont's Lake Champlain Islands and 13-year-old Baker, a seventh grader at Grand Island Grammar School was chosen by her classmates to represent the school at the christening of a Liberty Ship in Portland, Maine, named after the 30th president, Calvin Coolidge who was also a resident of Vermont. It had been built in 69 days.

Students across Vermont had been collecting scrap metal for the war effort, and, on average, collected 168 pounds per student. Her father donated a large piece of equipment and, as a result, the 31 students in her two-class, one-room school had 6,880. Jeannine, and the second and third ranked collectors in the state were on hand for the commissioning.

Jeannine Dubuque donated the bottle she used and the wooden box to the Historical Society Museum in Montpelier along with a scrapbook of clippings.

The War at Home. --Da Coot

World War II Sites in the US

In the earlier posting, I wrote about the crew members of the US ship who died in Southport, NC. In the article I got from the HMdb (Historical Marker database), they wrote that there weren't a lot of WW II markers in the US since essentially no fighting took place here.

True, but even so, there was plenty of war effort going on here, along with the battles with U-Boats in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Shipyards sprang up all along the coasts. Two ships on the Great Lakes were converted into aircraft carriers for Naval aviators to practice landings and takeoffs.

German and Italian prisoners were held in various towns, training camps sprang up all over as well. Our coasts also had fortifications. Then, there were the Rosie the Riveters and children participating in war drives.

I've also come across an article about a woman who recently donated the bottle with which she christened the Liberty Ship SS Calvin Coolidge to a museum in Vermont.

One thing I have definitely come across in this blog, is that there is the need for lots of markers that to be erected in this country.

Here's Hoping. --Cooter

The Wilmington Shipyard

The North Carolina Shipbuiding Co. (NCSC) built 243 ships from 1941 to 1946 for the World War II war effort. Ralph Scott has written a book on it "Wilmington Shipyard: Welding a Fleet for Victory In World War II" published in 2007.

He used personal correspondence, government records, company archives, and newspapers to develop the story. Covered in his book is site acquisition, ship production, demobilization, post war status, and especially interesting, the fate of ships they built.

Some interesting facts were that employees were granted short-term absence for tending crops and child care for working mothers. At one point, it was feared the bright lights from the shipyards at night would illuminate ships at sea, but it was determined that production was more important than the risks, so it continued.

Most have heard of the battles during the war, but equally important is the home front efforts that won through to final victory.

I'll Have to Give This a Read. --Cooter

Liberty Ships

From the Falmanac blog. On December 27, 1941, the first of many Liberty ships, the SS Patrick Henry, was launched at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard near Baltimore. They were originally referred to as "emergency vessels" and mass-produced to help the Allies recover from the losses at the hands of the U-Boats.

Assembly-line techniques brought to the production along with pre-fabricated parts led to a speed that was unknown before then. It took 244 days to build the Patrick Henry and that later dropped to an average of 42 days. One Liberty ship, the SS Robert E. Peary was built in four days at Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California as a publicity stunt.

Around 2,700 were built of which two fully-functional Liberty ships remain: the SS Jeremiah O'Brian in San Francisco and SS John W. Brown in Baltimore. The last one is the last-surviving merchant vessel from the Normandy Invasion. The Patrick Henry survived the war, but was scrapped in 1960.

Glad to see there are two left and they should be turned into museums. Without these ships, the fate of the war could definitely have gone differently.

www.falmanac.com

Check out Wikipedia for an excellent article.

The Greatest Generation. --Cooter