SS A. Frank Lever

Last updated
Bezoek President van Liberia aan de Hoogovens te IJmuiden, Bestanddeelnr 908-0968.jpg
SS Archanax
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameA. Frank Lever
Namesake Asbury Francis Lever
Operator States Marine Lines, Inc.
BuilderSoutheastern SB Corp., Savannah, Georgia
CostUSD 1,293,168
Yard number34
Way number2
Laid down29 October 1943
Launched7 December 1943
Completed21 December 1943
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Class and type
Tonnage
Displacement
Length
  • 441 feet 6 inches (135 m) oa
  • 416 feet (127 m) pp
  • 427 feet (130 m) lwl
Beam57 feet (17 m)
Draft27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m)
Installed power
  • 2 × Oil fired 450 °F (232 °C) boilers, operating at 220 psi (1,500 kPa)
  • 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion
Speed11.5 knots (21.3  km/h; 13.2  mph)
Capacity
  • 562,608 cubic feet (15,931 m3) (grain)
  • 499,573 cubic feet (14,146 m3) (bale)
Complement
Armament

SS A. Frank Lever was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. Her namesake was A. Francis "Frank" Lever. Her sponsor was Mrs. A. Frank Lever. [1]

Contents

History

A. Frank Lever was a Liberty ship, Maritime Commission hull number 1072, built during World War II and named for United States Senator and Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina Life Trustee, Asbury Francis Lever, who died 28 April 1940.

Liberty ships were a mass-produced wartime design. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Libertys between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design. Originally a British design, the U.S. version was designated 'EC2-S-C1': 'EC' for Emergency Cargo, '2' for a ship between 400 and 450 feet (120 and 140 m) long (Load Waterline Length), 'S' for steam engines, and 'C1' for design C1. The new design replaced much riveting, which accounted for one-third of the labor costs, with welding, and featured oil-fired boilers.

The first of these new ships was launched on 27 September 1941. She was named Patrick Henry after the American Revolutionary War patriot who had famously declared, "Give me liberty, or give me death." Consequently, all the EC2 type of emergency cargo ships came to be known as Liberty ships.

The cargo vessel A. Frank Lever, was constructed at the yards of the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation, Savannah, Georgia, one of 88 Libertys the yard built. Laid down on Way number 2 with Yard number 34, on 29 October 1943, she was launched on 7 December 1943. Mrs. A. Frank Lever was sponsor for the new ship. The new vessel was delivered on 21 December 1943.

Designed to be turned out at utmost speed, the Kaiser Permanente Metals Corp. No. 2 Yard in Richmond, California, set the record for constructing a Liberty ship when it built Robert E. Peary, from keel laying to launching, in 4 days 15 hours and 30 minutes, 8–12 November 1942. Robert E. Peary was then outfitted, painted, taken on sea trials, and the vessel fully loaded with 10,000 tons of cargo. Robert E. Peary sailed seven days after her keel was laid. [2] More than 2,400 Liberty ships survived the war, only 196 having been lost in combat. Of these, 835 made up the postwar cargo fleet. Greek entrepreneurs bought 526 ships and Italian ones bought 98.

In 1943, the new vessel was owned by the War Shipping Administration and operated by States Marine Lines, Inc. of New York. She was one of 51 ships in "Convoy HX 278" that departed New York, on 5 February 1944, arriving in Liverpool on 20 February 1944. Her cargo was listed as "General". In May–June 1944, she was part of the vast fleet of vessels assembled (6,939 ships, boats and amphibious craft) for "Operation Neptune", the maritime portion of "Operation Overlord", the 6 June 1944, D-Day invasion of Occupied France. This will likely remain the greatest number of vessels ever assembled.

Post-war, A. Frank Lever was sold abroad in 1947, being renamed Brott, Skibs A/S Vard (Jacobsen & Salvesen, Oslo), and reflagged for Norway. She went to Henriksens Rederi A/S (Dagfin Hendriksen, Oslo) in 1948. She was renamed Finnborg, operated by A/S Norfinn (Jorgen Krag, Oslo) in 1951. Sold to Liberian interests in 1954, she was renamed Archanax, by Liberian Sea Transport Corp, Liberia (G.M.Livanos, New York). In 1967 she became the Mistral with Delta Marine Corp, Liberia (Scio Shipping Inc, New York). The former SS A. Frank Lever was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1968.

Chronology

Related Research Articles

Victory ship Class of US cargo ship, 1940s

The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engines, giving higher speed to allow participation in high-speed convoys and make them more difficult targets for German U-boats. A total of 531 Victory ships were built in between 1944 and 1946.

Liberty ship US cargo ship class of WWII

Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the Liberty ship came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output.

USS <i>Arthur Middleton</i> Warship of the United States Navy

USS Arthur Middleton (AP-55/APA-25) was the lead ship of the Arthur Middleton-class attack transports and was in service with the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946. She was named for Founding Father Arthur Middleton and was scrapped in 1973.

USS <i>Zebra</i> Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Zebra (AKN-5) was an Indus-class net cargo ship in the service of the United States Navy in World War II. The ship was originally the Matthew Lyon, an EC2-S-C1 Liberty ship, operated for the War Shipping Administration (WSA) as a cargo vessel by an agent until severely damaged by torpedo in August 1943. While at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides awaiting likely scrapping the Navy acquired the vessel under bareboat charter to be used as a net cargo ship transporting reclaimed anti-submarine netting.

SS <i>Martin Behrman</i> World War II Liberty ship of the United States

SS Martin Behrman was an American Liberty ship built in 1944 for service in World War II. Her namesake was Martin Behrman, long-time mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. For the war she was operated by the Isbrandtsen Line under charter with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type C1 ship</span> Class of American cargo ships

Type C1 was a designation for cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original Maritime Commission designs, meant for shorter routes where high speed and capacity were less important. Only a handful were delivered prior to Pearl Harbor. But many C1-A and C1-B ships were already in the works and were delivered during 1942. Many were converted to military purposes including troop transports during the war.

SS A. Mitchell Palmer (MCE-2436) was an EC2-S-C1 Type Liberty ship design cargo ship, named after U.S. Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer. The ship's keel was laid by Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation of Savannah, Georgia, on 17 December 1943, commissioned as part of the Second World War effort by the War Shipping Administration (WSA). It was launched 12 February 1944. It was scrapped in 1968 in Taiwan.

<i>Crater</i>-class cargo ship World War II U.S. Navy cargo ship class

The Crater-class cargo ship were converted EC2-S-C1 type, Liberty cargo ships, constructed by the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) for use by the US Navy during World War II. The designation 'EC2-S-C1': 'EC' for Emergency Cargo, '2' for a ship between 400 and 450 ft long, 'S' for steam engines, and 'C1' for design C1.

SS Russell A. Alger,, was a Liberty ship named after Russell A. Alger, a Michigan Senator, Governor and U.S. Secretary of War.

SS <i>John Stagg</i> World War II Liberty ship of the United States

SS John Stagg was a tanker-type (Z-ET1-S-C3) Liberty ship built at the Delta Shipbuilding Company, New Orleans, Louisiana, during World War II. She was named after John Stagg (1864–1915), who was President of Alabama Presbyterian College for Men.

SS <i>Samuel Huntington</i> American liberty ship in WWII

SS Samuel Huntington was an American liberty ship during World War II. She was the 248th liberty ship authorized by the United States Maritime Commission and was named in honor of Samuel Huntington, a Founding Father and signer of the American Declaration of Independence. SS Samuel Huntington was launched in 1942 and sailed to ports in the Pacific, South America, Africa, and the United Kingdom. She was one of a select group of liberty ships that were outfitted to carry a limited number of either troops or prisoners of war. As part of a convoy to resupply the Allied troops at Anzio, she sank after a successful German bomb attack in January 1944.

The SS Melville E. Stone was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Melville Elijah Stone, a newspaper publisher, founder of the Chicago Daily News, and one time general manager of the reorganized Associated Press.

MV <i>Imperial Transport</i>

MV Imperial Transport was an oil tanker built in the early 1930s for the Houlder Line. During World War II, the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine in early 1940 and broke in half. The stern section was saved and a new forward half was built and mated to the ship, which returned to service in 1941. Imperial Transport was torpedoed again in early 1942, but her crew was able to get her back to port. She was repaired in the United States and was back in service by early 1943. The ship was sold to a Norwegian company in 1947, sold again two years later and finally scrapped, in 1958.

SS <i>Colby Victory</i> United States Merchant Marine ship

SS Colby Victory was the 84th Victory ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the California Shipbuilding Company on January 27, 1945, and completed on March 12, 1945. The ship’s United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2- S- AP3, hull number V50, built in 83 days. SS Colby Victory served in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. The 10,500-ton Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier Liberty ships. Liberty ships were designed to be used just for World War II. Victory ships were designed to last longer and serve after the war. The Victory ship differed from a Liberty ship in that they were: faster, longer and wider, taller, a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure and had a long raised forecastle.

SS <i>Frontenac Victory</i> Victory ship of the United States

SS Frontenac Victory was a Victory ship built for the United States War Shipping Administration late in World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. It saw service in the European Theater of Operations in the Atlantic Ocean during 1945, and in the immediate post-war period. SS Frontenac Victory was part of the series of Victory ships named after cities; this particular ship was named after the city of Frontenac, Missouri. It was a type VC2-S-AP2/WSAT cargo ship with the U.S. Maritime Commission (MARCOM), "Victory" (MCV) hull number 625, shipyard number 1597, and built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in Baltimore, Maryland.

SS <i>Frederic C. Howe</i> World War II Liberty ship of the United States

SS Frederic C. Howe was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Frederic C. Howe, a member of the Ohio Senate, Commissioner of Immigration of the Port of New York, and president of the League of Small and Subject Nationalities.

SS Sarah J. Hale was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Sarah J. Hale, the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb", she campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known as Thanksgiving and for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument, editor of Ladies' Magazine, and founder of the Seaman's Aid Society in 1833, to assist the surviving families of Boston sailors who died at sea.

SS <i>Benjamin Contee</i> World War II Liberty ship of the United States

SS Benjamin Contee was an American Liberty Ship type EC2-S-C1 built in 1942 by the Delta Shipbuilding in New Orleans, Louisiana as part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program for World War II. She was laid down on February 2, 1942, launched on June 15, 1942, and completed on August 7, 1942. She was operated by the Mississippi Shipping Company for the War Shipping Administration as a United States Merchant Marine ship. She was a Maritime Commission design. Like other Liberty ships, she was 441 feet (134 m) long and 56 feet (17 m) wide, carried 9000 tons of cargo and had a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h). Most Liberty ships were named after prominent deceased Americans. She was converted from a cargo ship to a troop transport ship. She is named after Benjamin Contee, an American Episcopal priest and statesman from Maryland. He was an officer in the American Revolutionary War, a delegate to the Confederation Congress, and a member of the first United States House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. H. Bull Steamship Company</span> American passengers and shipping company

A. H. Bull Steamship Company was a shipping company and passenger liner service founded in New York City in 1902 by Archibald H. Bull (1848-1920). Service started with shipping between New York and Florida. His fleet of ships then added service to other Eastcoast ports. The company is also often called the Bull Lines and the Bull Steamship Line or A. H. Bull & Company. While founded in New York, Bull soon move its headquarter to Peir 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. Bull Lines main Eastcoast ports were: Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, Tampa and Norfolk, Virginia. Oversea ports: Porto Rico, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Bremen, Copenhagen, and West Africa. Bull Steamship Line supported the US war effort for both World War I and World War II, including the loss of ships.

References

  1. Gerhardt, Frank A. "SS A. Frank Lever" . Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  2. "Project Liberty Ship". www.liberty-ship.com. Archived from the original on 2003-03-01.