SS St. Olaf

Last updated

History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameUSAHS St. Olaf
Namesake St. Olaf
Owner War Shipping Administration (WSA)
Operator Union Sulphur Co., Inc.
Orderedas type (EC2-S-C1) hull, MCE hull 33
Awarded14 March 1941
Builder Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland [1]
Cost$1,111,815 [2]
Yard number2020
Way number7
Laid down6 January 1942
Launched12 April 1942
Completed20 May 1942
FateSold to United States Department of War, 22 November 1943
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameSt. Olaf
OwnerUnited States Department of War
Operator US Army
CommissionedJuly 1944
Recommissioned1946
Decommissioned
  • November 1945
  • June 1947
Refit Simpson Yard, Boston, July 1944
Identification
  • USAHS (United States Army Hospital Ship) 1944—1945
  • USAT (United States Army Transport) 1946—1947
Fate
General characteristics [3]
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)
Troops
  • 591 patient capacity (Hospital ship)
  • 1,067 troops (Transport ship)
  • 147 dependents (Transport ship)
Complement
Armament
NotesArmament removed when converted to Hospital Ship

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 (English: Eternal/Perpetual King of Norway) and canonised at Nidaros, by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad.

Contents

Construction

St. Olaf was laid down on 6 January 1942, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 33, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland; and was launched on 12 April 1942. [1] [2]

History

She was allocated to Union Sulphur Co.Inc., on 20 May 1942. [4]

On 22 November 1943, she was purchased by the United States Department of War to be converted to a hospital ship. From 23 November to late July 1944, she was converted at Simpson Yard, in Boston, by Bethlehem Steel Co. She was commissioned USAHS St. Olaf in July 1944. [5] She had been given the name Jasmine but this wasn't used. [6]

During the war, St. Olaf operated in the European-African-Middle East and Asiatic-Pacific Theaters. She was decommissioned in November 1945. [5]

She was refit at Standard Shipbuilding Co., San Pedro, California, to a transport ship, for returning military personnel and their dependents from Alaska, to Seattle, Washington. She was recommissioned USAT St. Olaf in 1946, and again decommissioned in June 1947. [5]

On 24 June 1947, she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Astoria, Oregon. She was sold for scrapping on 1 April 1963, to Zidell Explorations, Inc., for $62,023.26. She was removed from the fleet on 12 April 1963. [4]

Related Research Articles

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 Thomas Stone was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Thomas Stone, a Founding Father, American planter and lawyer who signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a delegate for Maryland. He later worked on the committee that formed the Articles of Confederation in 1777. He acted as President of Congress for a short time in 1784.

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 Eleazar Wheelock was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Eleazar Wheelock, an American Congregational minister, orator, and educator in Lebanon, Connecticut, for 35 years before founding Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Before founding Dartmouth, Wheelock, in 1754, had founded and run the Moor's Charity School in Connecticut, to educate Native Americans.

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 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 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 John H. B. Latrobe was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John H. B. Latrobe, an American lawyer and inventor. He invented the Latrobe Stove, also known as the "Baltimore Heater", a coal fired parlor heater made of cast iron that fit into fireplaces as an insert.

SS Richard H. Alvey was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Richard H. Alvey, an American jurist who served as Chief Judge of the supreme court of the State of Maryland, the Maryland Court of Appeals and subsequently served as the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.

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 Benjamin Rush was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Benjamin Rush, a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, and educator as well as the founder of Dickinson College. Rush attended the Continental Congress. He served as Surgeon General of the Continental Army and became a professor of chemistry, medical theory, and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

SS Ralph Izard was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Ralph Izard, an American politician. He was appointed commissioner to the Court of Tuscany by the Continental Congress in 1776, but was recalled in 1779. He returned to America in 1780, and pledged his large estate in South Carolina, for the payment of war ships to be used in the American Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1782 and 1783. In 1788, he was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1795, serving as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the Third Congress.

SS Caesar Rodney was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Caesar Rodney, an American lawyer and politician from St. Jones Neck in Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, east of Dover. He was an officer of the Delaware militia during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and President of Delaware during most of the American Revolution.

References

Bibliography