Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though 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.
SS A. B. Hammond was a liberty ship built by California Shipbuilding Corporation of Los Angeles, and delivered in February 1944, to the War Shipping Administration (WSA).
The SS Luray Victory was the seventeenth Victory ship, a new 10,500 ton class ship built during World War II. The California Shipbuilding Company built the ship under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched on May 11, 1944, and completed on June 26, 1944. The ship’s United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 17 (V-17). The SS Luray Victory served in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and was operated by the Black Diamond Steamship Company.
SS Oshkosh Victory was a United States Victory ship which entered service in the Pacific Ocean shortly after the end of World War II. The ship's US Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 808 (V-808). The ship was built at the California Shipbuilding Yard (Calship) in Los Angeles, California and was delivered on September 10, 1945. SS Oshkosh Victory was the 808th of the new 10,500-ton class ships known as Victory ships. SS Oshkosh Victory was built in 96 days, under the Emergency Shipbuilding program.
SS Felix Riesenberg was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Felix Riesenberg, a mariner, explorer, civil engineer, chief officer of the United States Shipping Board, (USSB) and author of marine textbooks.
SS Patrick B. Whalen was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Patrick B. Whalen, who was lost at sea while he was the 1st assistant engineer on SS Illinois, after she was torpedoed by German submarine U-159, on 2 June 1942, in the Caribbean.
SS Harold T. Andrews was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Harold T. Andrews, an ordinary seaman serving on SS West Nohno that, on 15 September 1942, in Suez, Egypt, saved an engineer that was trapped in the forepeak tank. He was posthumously awarded with the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal.
SS Josephine Shaw Lowell was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Josephine Shaw Lowell, a Nineteenth century Progressive Reform leader and creator of the National Consumers League.
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 St. Olaf was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after St. Olaf, the King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised at Nidaros, by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad.
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 John Henry was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Henry, the eighth Governor of Maryland and member of the United States Senate.
SS John Walker was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Walker, a representative of the House of Burgesses. He was in the Continental Army, serving in 1777 as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, holding the rank of colonel. In 1780, he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He then studied law. When William Grayson died in 1790, Walker was appointed to the United States Senate to serve from March 31 to November 9.
SS Jonathan Elmer was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Jonathan Elmer, an American politician and delegate to the Continental Congress three times: 1777 to 1778, 1781 to 1783, and 1787 to 1788. In 1780 and 1784 he represented Cumberland County in the New Jersey Legislative Council. The College of New Jersey made Elmer a trustee in 1782. He served in that position until 1795. The New Jersey Legislature appointed Elmer to the United States Senate for the term of 4 March 1789 to 3 March 1791.
SS Benjamin Ide Wheeler was a Liberty ship, a cargo ship during World War II. Built by California Shipbuilding Corporation (Calship) of Los Angeles for the United States Maritime Commission (USMC). Benjamin Ide Wheeler was Calship's 100th ship built. She was sponsored and christened by Mrs. Robert Gordon Sproul, wife of Robert Gordon Sproul President of the University of California system. She was named after Benjamin Ide Wheeler President of the University of California from 1899 to 1919. Her Hull # was 675, she was type EC2-S-C1 ship, built in 50 days as part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Her keel was laid down on 28 October 1942, launched on 27 November 1942 and delivered on 17 December 1942. She was assigned to American-Hawaiian Steamship Company of San Francisco for merchant operation by the War Shipping Administration (WSA).
SS Cotton Mather was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Cotton Mather, a New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer.
SS Francisco Morazan was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. The ship saw service with the War Shipping Administration during the Philippines campaign in 1944, and was sold to a Greek owner in 1947. Under its Greek owners, the ship was renamed Chryssi in 1947, Haralampos Hadjipateras in 1952, and Aegaion in 1963. In 1967, the ship was scrapped, meeting the same fate as most other Liberty ships.
SS Francisco Coronado was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. The ship was named after Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján, a Spanish conquistador who explored the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542. The ship was built at the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company's shipyard at Vancouver, Washington.
Sudden & Christenson Company was a shipping and lumber company founded in 1899. Edwin A. Christenson and Charles Sudden of San Francisco, California started the company and shipping line to supply northwest lumber to cities on the east coast, west coast and far east. The ships would return with goods and passengers from the remote ports. Some of the ships also had passenger service on the upper decks. Sudden & Christenson Company and Los Angeles Steamship Company-United American Line started a joint venture called the Arrow Line in 1926. Arrow Line operated from Northwest Pacific Coast Ports and Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Sudden & Christenson's San Francisco Headquarters was at 110 Market Street with docks at Pier 15. Sudden & Christenson Company was incorporated in California in 1903. The Sudden & Christenson company dissolved in 1944 and Sudden & Christenson, Inc was founded to pay of the liability of franchise taxes, and operated till dissolved in 1965. Charles Sudden died in 1913 and Edwin Christenson became president with D. Walter Rasor as vice president. The company started with schooners and added steamships. During World War I Sudden & Christenson operated Merchant navy ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II Sudden & Christenson was active with charter shipping with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. Sudden & Christenson had docks in San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Astoria, Los Angeles and Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Dalian and Tsingtao. Far East ports were a joint venture with the North China Line. In late 1950s came the more cost-effective loading and unloading system, container shipping. The Sudden & Christenson fleet, now aged and on an obsolete system, put the company in decline, closing in 1965.
United States