SS John W. Brown is a Liberty ship, one of two still operational and one of three preserved as museum ships. As a Liberty ship, she operated as a merchant ship of the United States Merchant Marine during World War II and later was a vocational high school training ship in New York City for many years. Now preserved, she is a museum ship and cruise ship berthed at Pier 13 in Baltimore Harbor in Maryland.
USS Billfish (SS-286), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to bear the generic name for any fish, such as gar or marlin, with bill-shaped jaws. During World War II, Billfish made eight war patrols between 12 August 1943 and 27 August 1945. During these patrols she sank three Japanese cargo ships totaling 4,074 gross register tons and five smaller craft. She spent part of her seventh and eighth war patrols on lifeguard duty off Japan during Allied airstrikes.
USS Pogy (SS-266), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pogy, or menhaden. She was credited with sinking 16 ships totaling 62,633 gross register tons during World War II.
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.
I-26 was an Imperial Japanese Navy B1 type submarine commissioned in 1941. She saw service in the Pacific War theatre of World War II, patrolling off the West Coast of Canada and the United States, the east coast of Australia, and Fiji and in the Indian Ocean and taking part in Operation K, preparatory operations for the Aleutian Islands campaign, and the Guadalcanal campaign, the Marianas campaign, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was the first Japanese submarine to sink an American merchant ship in the war, sank the first ship lost off the coast of State of Washington during the war, damaged the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3), sank the light cruiser USS Juneau (CLAA-52), and was the third-highest-scoring Japanese submarine of World War II in terms of shipping tonnage sunk. Her bombardment of Vancouver Island in 1942 was the first foreign attack on Canadian soil since 1870. In 1944, I-26′s crew committed war crimes in attacking the survivors of a ship she sank. She was sunk in October 1944 during her ninth war patrol.
Type C2 ships were designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in 1937–38. They were all-purpose cargo ships with five holds, and U.S. shipyards built 328 of them from 1939 to 1945. Compared to ships built before 1939, the C2s were remarkable for their speed and fuel economy. Their design speed was 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h), but some could make 19 knots (35 km/h) on occasion. The first C2s were 459 feet (140 m) long, 63 feet (19 m) broad, and 40 feet (12 m) deep, with a 25-foot (8 m) draft. Later ships varied somewhat in size. Some, intended for specific trade routes, were built with significant modifications in length and capacity.
German submarine U-96 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) during World War II. It was made famous after the war in Lothar-Günther Buchheim's 1973 bestselling novel Das Boot and the 1981 Oscar-nominated film adaptation of the same name, both based on his experience on the submarine as a war correspondent in 1941.
The Battle of the Caribbean refers to a naval campaign waged during World War II that was part of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1941 to 1945. German U-boats and Italian submarines attempted to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other material. They sank shipping in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and attacked coastal targets in the Antilles. Improved Allied anti-submarine warfare eventually drove the Axis submarines out of the Caribbean region.
German submarine U-73 was a Type VIIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down by Vegesacker Werft, Germany as yard number 1 on 5 November 1939, launched on 27 July 1940 and commissioned on 30 September of the same year under Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Helmut Rosenbaum.
SS Antoine Saugrain was a Liberty ship of the United States that served in World War II. The ship was built at the Permanente Metals Corporation Yard No. 2 in Richmond, California under Maritime Commission Contract 1728. Laid down on 26 July 1943, the ship was launched on 15 August, and delivered on 28 August to Agwilines Inc. She was named after Antoine Saugrain, a French physician and chemist who immigrated to America at the end of the 18th century and led various pioneering works, including on vaccination against smallpox.
Belgian Airman was a 6,959-ton cargo ship which was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Glasgow in 1941 for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was launched as Empire Ballantyne and transferred to the Belgian Government in 1942. She was sunk by a German U-boat on 14 April 1945.
SS Santa Elisa was a refrigerated cargo ship built for the United States Maritime Commission by Federal Shipbuilding of Kearny, New Jersey in 1941.
SS West Maximus was a steel-hulled freighter built for the United States Shipping Board's emergency wartime construction program during World War I. Completed too late to see service in the war, West Maximus spent the interwar years in commercial service.
SS John Burke was an American Liberty Ship built during World War II, one of the 2,710 type 'EC2-S-C1' ships that carried all kinds and types of dry cargo during the war. The ship was named for John Burke, the 10th Governor of North Dakota. Burke was built at Kaiser Shipbuilding Company's Oregon Shipbuilding yard in Portland, Oregon. Burke's keel was laid November 20, 1942 and the hull was launched on December 13. After fitting-out, Burke was delivered to the US Maritime Commission on December 23, just 33 days after construction began. The War Shipping Administration then placed Burke under management of the Northland Transportation Company.
SS Richard Bland was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Richard Bland, an American planter and statesman from Virginia. He served for many terms in the House of Burgesses, was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775, and is considered a Founding Father 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.
SS Hobart Baker was a Liberty ship built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. The ship was named in honor of Hobart Baker. Hobart "Hobey" Baker (1892–1918) was an American amateur athlete and is considered the first American star in ice hockey. He was also an American football player. The ship was assigned by the War Shipping Administration to General Steamship Company of San Francisco who operated it throughout World War II. Hobart Baker was laid down on 16 April 1943, launched on 12 May 1943 and completed on 24 May 1943, with the hull No. 1114 as part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program, built is 38 days.
SS Lewis L. Dyche was a Liberty ship built by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. The ship was named in honor of Lewis Lindsay Dyche. Lewis Lindsay Dyche (1857–1915) was an American naturalist and also the creator of the Panorama of North American Plants and Animals, which was featured in the Kansas Pavilion at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The ship was assigned by the War Shipping Administration, she operated by Interocean Steamship Company of San Francisco during World War II. Lewis L. Dyche was laid down on 6 November 1943, launched on 26 November 1943 and completed on 9 December 1943, with the hull No. 807 as part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program, built is 38 days.
World War II United States Merchant Navy was the largest civilian Navy in the world, which operated during World War II. With the United States fighting a world war in all the world oceans, the demand for cargo and fuel was very high. Cargo and fuel was needed around the world for the United States Navy, United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Army Air Forces, United States Coast Guard and the support of the allied nations of the United States. American steamship companies chartered ships from the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration to meet the demand. Many United States Merchant Marine ships were newly built in the Emergency Shipbuilding Program, other ships were older World War I ships that were put back in service, or private ships acquired under Emergency war requisitions. The Merchant Navy operated in the Pacific War and European war. Over 200 US Merchant ships took part in the D-day Normandy landings. To make a Normandy breakwater Harbor, called Mulberry harbour, 33 merchant ships were sunk 1,000 yards from shore. Some of the ghosts merchant ships used were damaged and others were deemed too old.
United States
