SS Navajo Victory

Typical Victory Ship.
History
United States
Name	Navajo Victory
Namesake	Navajo City, New Mexico and Navajo, Arizona
Owner	War Shipping Administration
Operator	Luckenbach Line Company 1944, American Mail Line 1966
Builder	California Shipbuilding Company, Los Angeles
Laid down	March 5, 1944
Launched	May 2, 1944
Completed	June 30, 1944
Identification	IMO number:  5247940
Fate	Scrapped in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 1985
General characteristics
Class and type	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage	7,612  GRT, 4,553  NRT
Displacement	15,200 tons
Length	455 ft (139 m)
Beam	62 ft (19 m)
Draught	28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power	8,500  shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion	HP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller, by Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., Essington
Speed	16.5 knots
Boats & landing craft carried	4 Lifeboats
Complement	62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament	1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun as Victory ship 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon
Notes	[1]

SS Navajo Victory was a cargo ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. It was completed by the California Shipbuilding Company on June 30, 1944 and served in the Pacific during World War II. Victory Ship class vessels were designed to replace the Liberty Ship class. Victory Ships were designed to last longer and to serve the US Navy after the war. The Victory Ships were faster, longer, wider, and taller than the Liberty ships, and they had a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure as well as a long raised forecastle. ^[2]

Launch

Navajo Victory was christened by Mrs. Tom Price, wife of the general manager of Kaiser Shipyards; the matron of honor was Mrs. Frank Backman. Navajo Victory was the 15th Victory Ship built by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, it was one of 218 Victory Ships named after cities in the United States. ^[3]

World War II

Navajo Victory conducted supply operations in the Pacific Ocean throughout the war under the operation of the Luckenbach Line. On October 18, 1944, it entered Palau with another cargo ship, Sea Pike, escorted by a Marshall Islands-based destroyer, USS Brackett, for protection. ^[4] On November 29, 1944, Navajo Victory and Sea Pike delivered troops and supplies from Ewa Villages, Hawaii, to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323. ^[5] Navajo Victory also delivered supplies for the liberation of The Philippines, ^[6] and for the USS Floyd County, an American tank landing ship. ^{[7] [8]} On December 29, 1944, it supplied fleet ships at Seeadler Harbor, Manus Island. ^[9] On January 16, 1945, it unloaded troop rations at New Guinea for the troops stationed there. ^[10] It prepared for Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan, from June 26 to August 15, 1945, with exercises at Leyte. The training exercises were halted after the surrender of Japan on August 15.

Postwar

From 1946 to 1949, Navajo Victory was a relief ship, a fleet supply ship and as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Astoria, Oregon. ^[11]

Korean War

Navajo Victory served as a United States Merchant Marine vessel during the Korean War. It made nine trips to Korea between November 18, 1950 and December 23, 1952 transporting mail, food, and other supplies, ^[12] and assisted in the transport of the 140th Tank Battalion. Merchant marine ships transported roughly 75% of all personnel to Korea. ^{[13] [14]}

Menestheus rescue

On April 16, 1953, Navajo Victory received a distress call from the motor ship Menestheus, a 7,800-ton British freighter. Menestheus had left Balboa, Panama, on April 5 en route to Osaka with a cargo of rice. When Menestheus was about 90 miles northwest of Magdalena Bay and 130 miles west of Baja California, an auxiliary generator exploded in her engine room, starting a fire that forced the crew to abandon ship. The crew of 81 was in the lifeboats by the time Navajo Victory arrived. Navajo Victory rescued them and took them to San Diego. Navajo Victory towed Menestheus for nearly 500 miles, but was eventually forced to abandon her. ^{[15] [16]}

Navajo Victory lay idle in Astoria, Oregon until 1966.

Vietnam War

In 1966 Navajo Victory was reactivated for the Vietnam War. It was operated by the American Mail Line. ^{[17] [18]}

After the war in 1973, it was laid up in Suisun Bay as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet as part of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet. It was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1985. ^[19]

See also

• List of Victory ships
• Liberty ship
• Type C1 ship
• Type C2 ship
• Type C3 ship

References

1. Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
2. National parks, Reading 2: Victory Ships
3. /shipbuildinghistory.com, Victory Ships
4. On Patrol in the Marshall Islands 1944-45. A partial history of U.S.S. BRACKETT DE--41, by William L. Roberts
5. A HISTORY OF MARINE FIGHTER ATTACK SQUADRON, by Colonel Gerald R. Pitzl, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, page 14.
6. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Liberation of The Philippines By Samuel Eliot Morison
7. USS LST-762 Operational Records - Navsource
8. Victory Ships
9. DECK LOG BOOK & WAR DIARY, CONDENSED, USS DENVER, CL 58, DECEMBER 1, 1944 TO DECEMBER 31, 1944
10. War Diary - Michael K. Wood home page 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
11. REGULAR MEETING OF TIE BOARD OF Port of Oakland
12. The Times from San Mateo, California · Page 1, August 8, 1952
13. Small United States and United Nations Warships in the Korean War, By Paul M. Edwards
14. Korean War Educator, Merchant Marine, Accounts of the Korean War
15. The Baytown Sun from Baytown, Texas · Page 1, April 16, 1953
16. Long Beach Independent from Long Beach, California · Page 8, April 17, 1953
17. The American Legion Magazine, Volume 81, No. 1 In July 1966
18. Vietnam War, A Fight for Honor: The Charles Kerkman Story, By Michael Ireland, page 31
19. Mariners, The Website Of The Mariners Mailing List. Victory Ships

Sources

• Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the ‘Victory’ type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
• United States Maritime Commission:
• Victory Cargo Ships