 Typical Victory ship | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | SSMinot Victory |
| Owner | War Shipping Administration |
| Operator | Isbrandtsen Line |
| Builder | Oregon Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down | October 27, 1944 |
| Launched | December 4, 1944 |
| Completed | February 1, 1945 |
| Identification | IMO number: 5236379 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1985 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship |
| Tonnage | 7612GRT, 4,553NRT |
| Displacement | 15,200 tons |
| Length | 455 ft (139 m) |
| Beam | 62 ft (19 m) |
| Draft | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Installed power | 8,500 shp (6,300 kW) |
| Propulsion | HP & LPturbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller |
| Speed | 16.5 knots |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 4 Lifeboats |
| Complement | 62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards |
| Armament | |
| Notes | [1] |
TheSSMinot Victory was aVictory ship built duringWorld War II under theEmergency Shipbuilding program. She was laid down and launched by theOregon Shipbuilding Corporation, and completed on February 1, 1945. The ship'sUnited States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3 and hull number 149 (1203). The Maritime Commission turned it over formerchant navy operation to a civilian contractor, theIsthmian Steamship Company under theUnited States Merchant Marine act for theWar Shipping Administration.[2] She was named afterMinot, Maine andMinot, North Dakota.
Victory ships were designed to supersede the earlierLiberty ships. Unlike Liberty ships, Victory ships were designed to serve theUS Navy after the war and to last longer.[3] Compared to Liberty ships, Victory ships were faster, longer, wider, taller, and had a thinner stack which was set further forward on thesuperstructure. They also had a long, raisedforecastle.
For World War II theMinot Victory was operated byIsbrandtsen Line, and hadUnited States Navy Armed Guard to man thedeck guns. TheMinot Victory arrived atOkinawa on April 11, 1945, in a fleet of 15 merchant ships serving in thePacific War. The ship was a supplier for operations in theBattle of Okinawa lasting from the April 1 until June 22, 1945. On April 12, 1945, at 2:55 pm while anchored atHagushi, the fleet came under attack, theMinot Victory shot down a Japanese plane which had strafed her. The Kamikaze plane nevertheless crashed into her number 4king post mast, all told wounding five of the crew on board. At the time she had a 57-man merchant crew, consisting of 27 USN Armed Guard sailors and 9 civilians. She was then repaired and put back in service shortly.[4]Minot Victory's international radio call letters were A N G P. In 1948 she was laid up in theNational Defense Reserve Fleet, first atWilmington, North Carolina and later transferred toBeaumont, Texas.[5][6][7]
In 1950 she was reactivated for theKorean War. She made eight trips to Korea between March 1951 and March 1952 and helped the American forces engage againstCommunist aggression inSouth Korea. About 75 percent of the personnel taken to Korea for the Korean War came by the merchant marine ships, but theMinot Victory primarily transported goods, mail, food and other supplies. About 90% of the supplies brought to the war zone were carried by merchant marine ships.[8][9] In 1952 after the war she was laid up in the reserve fleet.[10][11][12]
Minot Victory carried goods andammunition to support theVietnam War as well. In May 1967 she ran aground on a coral reef in theParacel Islands off the coast ofVietnam, 240 miles northeast ofDanang. At the time she was loaded with 6000 tons of military machinery and supplies bound for Vietnam. It took seven days and 300 men to unload enough of the cargo for her to float off of the reef. Heavy earth moving equipment were put on barges, with theRescue and salvage ship, theUSS Current, helping in the operation. Although the first attempt to get her off the reef (on May 21) failed, the tugsUSS Mataco,USS Tawakoni,USS Hitchiti, andUSS Mahopac, finally were able to free her at high tide with only minor hull damage. She unloaded the remaining cargo at Danang.[13][14][15][16][17]
TheMinot Victory was eventually scrapped in 1985.
