Calmar Steamship Company

Last updated
Calmar Steamship Company
IndustryShipping
Founded1927 (1927) New York City, United States
Defunct1976
Parent Bethlehem Steel
SS Portmar (1919) sister ship Circinus) Soviet steamer Karaganda Between March 1961 and 1963.jpg
SS Portmar (1919) sister ship Circinus)
SS Calmar a Type C4-class ship USS General O. H. Ernst (AP-133) in San Francisco Bay, California (USA), circa 1945-46 (NH 83398).jpg
SS Calmar a Type C4-class ship

Calmar Steamship Company was a proprietary subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel founded in New York City in 1927. Bethlehem Steel Company founded Calmar Steamship Company and other steamship companies after finding general shipping companies could not meet the company's needs in a timely manner. At the time Bethlehem Steel Company was the second-largest steelmaker in the United States and the world, only behind U.S. Steel. Calmar Steamship Company shipped Bethlehem Steel Company products from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. On the return trip, Calmar Steamship Company would bring lumber products from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast. Calmar Steamship Company closed in 1976, as United States steel manufacture declined in the 1960s. [1]

Contents

Ships

World War II

A VC2-S-AP2 type Victory ship SS American Victory.jpg
A VC2-S-AP2 type Victory ship
SS John W. Brown, one of four surviving Liberty ships in 2000 SS John W Brown.jpg
SS John W. Brown, one of four surviving Liberty ships in 2000

During World War II Bethlehem Steel Company had its subsidiary companies operated charter shipping to support the war. During World War II Bethlehem Steel Company had its subsidiary companies: Calmar Steamship Company and Interocean active with charter shipping for the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. During wartime, the Companies operated Victory ships and Liberty ships. The ship was run by its crew and the US Navy supplied United States Navy Armed Guards to man the deck guns and radio. The most common armament mounted on these merchant ships were the MK II 20mm Oerlikon autocannon and the 3"/50, 4"/50, and 5"/38 deck guns. [12] [13] After the war there were many surplus ships and much competition. Black Diamond Steamship Company continued to operate after the war, but closed in the 1955. [14]

See also

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American Foreign Steamship Corporation was founded in Brooklyn, New York City in 1932 by Ira L. Rosenson, Sophia Pruss and Elias Katz. Ira L. Rosenson was an attorney and the major shareholder in the firm. American Foreign Steamship Corporation purchased a 5,570-ton cargo ship SS Eastern Glen from the American South African Line in 1933. American Foreign Steamship Corporation named the ship the SS American Oriole. The ship was built by Kabushiki Kaisha Uchida Zosengo company of Yokohama, Japan in 1920. The ship was an United States Shipping Board ship. The next two ships purchased was the SS Liberty Glo and SS Wildwood, these were Hog Islanders type ships. The two ships were purchased from the South Atlantic Steamship Company. In 1938 another Hog Islanders ship was purchased the, SS Magmeric, renamed the SS American Robin. The American Oriole was sold to England in 1940 to help with the World War II efforts. She was renamed the SS Barberrys, but on November 26, 1942, she was sunk by a torpedoed from German submarine U-663 off of St. John's, Newfoundland.

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