SS Christopher Newport was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Christopher Newport, who was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company, in 1607, on the way to found the settlement at Jamestown, in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent English settlement in North America. He was also in overall command of the other two ships on that initial voyage, in order of their size, Godspeed and Discovery.
SS Carter Braxton was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Carter Braxton, a Founding Father and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, as well as a merchant, planter, and Virginia politician. A grandson of Robert "King" Carter, one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners and slaveholders in the Old Dominion, Carter Braxton was active in Virginia's legislature for more than 25 years.
SS Samuel Chase was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Samuel Chase, an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland.
SS Francis L. Lee was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Francis L. Lee, a member of the House of Burgesses, in the Colony of Virginia. As an active protester regarding issues such as the Stamp Act, Lee helped move the colony in the direction of independence from Britain. Lee was a delegate to the Virginia Conventions and the Continental Congress. He was a signer of the Articles of Confederation and the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Virginia.
SS Robert Treat Paine was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Robert Treat Paine, an American lawyer, politician, and Founding Father best known as a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. He served as the state's first attorney general, and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court.
SS Peter Minuit was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Peter Minuit, a Walloon from Tournai, in present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New Netherland. He founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula in 1638. Minuit is generally credited with orchestrating the purchase of Manhattan Island for the Dutch from the Lenape Native Americans. Manhattan later became the site of the Dutch city of New Amsterdam, and the borough of Manhattan of modern-day New York City.
SS Henry St. George Tucker was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Henry St. George Tucker, a Virginia jurist, law professor, and US Congressman (1815–1819).
SS Thomas Ruffin was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Thomas Ruffin, an American jurist and Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1852 and again from 1858 to 1859. He was Chief Justice of that Court from 1833 to 1852.
SS William Johnson was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William Johnson, a state legislator and judge in South Carolina, and an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1804 to his death in 1834.
SS Richard Bassett was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Richard Bassett, a Delaware attorney and politician, veteran of the American Revolutionary War, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, signer of the United States Constitution, United States Senator from Delaware, Chief Justice of the Delaware Court of Common Pleas, Governor of Delaware and a United States circuit judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Third Circuit. He holds the overall seniority position of #1 in the history of the United States Senate.
SS James Gunn was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after James Gunn, a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States senator from Georgia.
SS Samuel Johnston was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Samuel Johnston, an American planter, lawyer, and statesman from Chowan County, North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in both the Continental Congress and the United States Senate, and was the sixth Governor of North Carolina.
SS William MacLay was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William MacLay, a politician from Pennsylvania during the eighteenth century. Maclay, along with Robert Morris, was a member of Pennsylvania's first two-member delegation to the United States Senate. Following his tenure in the Senate, he served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on two separate occasions, as a county judge, and as a presidential elector.
SS Luther Martin was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Luther Martin, a politician and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, who left the Constitutional Convention early because he felt the Constitution violated States' rights. He was a leading Anti-Federalist, along with Patrick Henry and George Mason, whose actions helped passage of the Bill of Rights.
SS William Wirt was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William Wirt, an American author and statesman who is credited with turning the position of United States Attorney General into one of influence. He was the longest serving Attorney General in US history. He was also the Anti-Masonic Party nominee for president in the 1832 election.
SS Reverdy Johnson was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Reverdy Johnson, a statesman and jurist from Maryland. From 1845 to 1849, Johnson represented Maryland in the United States Senate as a Whig. From March 1849 until July 1850, Johnson was Attorney General of the United States under President Zachary Taylor. He represented the slave-owning defendant in the controversial 1857 case Dred Scott v. Sandford. In 1865, he defended Mary Surratt before a military tribunal. From 14 September 1868 until 13 May 1869, he served as the ambassador to the United Kingdom.
SS Bernard Carter was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Bernard Carter, a lawyer, professor, and politician from Maryland. Carter was corporate attorney in Baltimore and a professor at the University of Maryland.
SS Jared Ingersoll was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Jared Ingersoll, an American Founding Father, lawyer, and statesman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signatory of the Constitution of the United States.
SS William Few was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William Few, an American politician, farmer, businessman, and a Founding Father of the United States. Few represented the US state of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention and signed the United States Constitution. Few, along with James Gunn, were the first Senators from Georgia.
SS Grace Abbott was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Grace Abbott, an American social worker who specifically worked in improving the rights of immigrants and advancing child welfare, especially the regulation of child labor.
United States
