Cliffs Victory

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History
Flag of the United States.svgUnited States
Name
  • SS Notre Dame Victory (1945–1950)
  • SS Cliffs Victory (1950–1985)
  • SS Savic (1985)
Owner War Shipping Administration (1945–1950)
Operator
Builder Oregon Shipbuilding Corp.
Yard number247522
Laid down26 January 1945
Launched9 March 1945
Acquired6 April 1945
NotesRebuilt as a freighter, 1950
FateSold for scrap, 1985
General characteristics
Class and typeVC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage
Displacement15,200 tons
Length439 ft (134 m)
Beam62 ft (19 m)
Draught28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power8,500  shp (6,300 kW)
PropulsionHP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller
Speed16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried
4 lifeboats
Complement62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament
Notes [1]
General characteristics (after 1950 rebuild)
Type Lake freighter
Tonnage
Displacement15,200 tons
Length604 ft (184 m)
Beam62 ft (19 m)
Draught34 ft (10 m)
Installed power8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Speed17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
General characteristics (after 1957 lengthening)
Tonnage
Displacement15,200 tons
Length700 ft (210 m)
Beam62 ft (19 m)
Draught34.33 ft (10.46 m)
Installed power8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Speed17 knots
Notes [2]

The SS Cliffs Victory was a cargo vessel, originally built as a Victory ship, during World War II, as the Notre Dame Victory and operated by Interocean Shipping Company under charter with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. In 1950 she was lengthened and converted to a lake freighter for the Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. [3]

Contents

History

U.S. Navy

The ship was built in 1945 by Oregon Shipbuilding Company in Portland, Oregon. She had been mothballed, following her brief World War II service, and, when the Korean War required more vessels on the Great Lakes, she was purchased by Cleveland Cliffs, who planned to adapt her for service on the lakes. [3] According to Mark Thompson, author of Queen of the Lakes , these plans triggered skepticism. But the conversion took only 90 days.

Great Lakes service

Her adaptation left her with a unique profile. [3] Her original bridge and central superstructure were removed and a new bridge and accommodation was built in the bow, as with all other lake freighters. Her engines were left midships, and the second superstructure, that other lake freighters had above their engines, in the stern was built above her engines in their midship locations. Her hull was lengthened by 165 feet (50 m). But unlike every other lake freighter she still had holds abaft her engine rooms.

She was towed from the yard where she was converted, in Baltimore, Maryland to Chicago, Illinois, and special provisions had to be made so she could travel under the bridges she encountered. [3] She passed under one bridge with only five inches of clearance.

At 620 feet (190 m) she was too long for the final lock on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. [3] The lockmaster agreed for her bow to be tied in place, right up against the upstream doors to the lock, with her stern sticking out of the open lower doors. He then opened the upstream doors, and the vessel was hauled upstream far enough for the downstream doors to be closed.

Once she began carrying cargo on the lake, at 20 miles per hour (17 kn), she was the fastest freighter on the lakes. [3] When she was lengthened a second time, in 1957, by a further 96 feet (29 m), she became "Queen of the Lakes" –the longest ship on the Great Lakes. She held this record until surpassed by the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on June 7, 1958.

On December 21, 1971, large machinery damage was discovered. The estimated cost of repairs was $100,000. [2] On April 20, 1975, Cliffs Victory collided with the SS Benson Ford while attempting to break the latter vessel free from ice. SS Cliffs Victory went into Fraser Shipyards for port bow repairs and was returned to service on April 24. [2] On December 9, 1976, the ship ran aground near Johnson Point in the St. Marys River while downbound in heavy ice conditions. Cliffs Victory was freed on December 11. The incident later became known as the "worst traffic jam in the river in fifty years", with about seventy vessels delayed by the incident. Assistance of three tugs and a Coast Guard icebreaker were required to free Cliffs Victory. During the resulting inspection, it was discovered that the rudder had been lost. [2]

Retirement

In 1985, her registry was changed to Panama and was briefly renamed SS Savic. She was sold for scrap the same year to Hai International Corp. in Taiwan. [2]

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References

  1. Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "NOTRE DAME VICTORY". bgsu.edu/. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mark L. Thompson (1994). Queen of the Lakes. Wayne State University Press. ISBN   9780814343371 . Retrieved 2020-01-03.