 SS Red Oak Victory, now a museum ship | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Victory ship |
| Builders | 6 shipyards in the US |
| Cost | US$2,522,800 (1943)[1] (equivalent toUS$35.54 million in 2023)[2] per unit |
| Planned | 615 |
| Completed | 534 |
| Cancelled | 81 |
| Preserved | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Cargo ship |
| Tonnage | |
| Displacement | 15,200 tons (at 28-foot draft)[3][clarification needed] |
| Length | 455 ft (138.7 m)[3] |
| Beam | 62 ft (18.9 m)[3] |
| Draft | 28 ft (8.5 m)[3] |
| Depth of hold | 38 ft (11.6 m)[3] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 15–17 knots (28–31 km/h; 17–20 mph) |
TheVictory ship was aclass ofcargo ship produced in large numbers byAmericanshipyards duringWorld War II. They were a more modern design compared to the earlierLiberty ship, were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engines, giving higher speed to allow participation in high-speed convoys and make them more difficult targets for GermanU-boats. A total of 531 Victory ships were built in between 1944 and 1946.[4][5]
One of the first acts of the United StatesWar Shipping Administration upon its formation in February 1942 was to commission the design of what came to be known as the Victory class. Initially designated EC2-S-AP1, where EC2 = Emergency Cargo, type 2 (Load Waterline Length between 400 and 450 feet (120 and 140 m)), S = steam propulsion with AP1 = one aft propeller (EC2-S-C1 had been the designation of theLiberty ship design), it was changed to VC2-S-AP1 before the name "Victory Ship" was officially adopted on 28 April 1943. The ships were built under theEmergency Shipbuilding program.[3]
The design was an enhancement of the Liberty ship, which had been successfully produced in extraordinary numbers. Victory ships were slightly larger than Liberty ships, 14 feet (4.3 m) longer at 455 feet (139 m), 6 feet (1.8 m) wider at 62 ft (19 m), and drawing one foot more at 28 feet (8.5 m) loaded.[3] Displacement was up just under 1,000 tons, to 15,200. With a raisedforecastle and a more sophisticated hull shape to help achieve the higher speed, they had a quite different appearance from Liberty ships.
To make them less vulnerable toU-boat attacks, Victory ships made 15 to 17knots (28 to 31 km/h), 4 to 6 knots (7.4 to 11.1 km/h) faster than the Libertys, and had longer range. The extra speed was achieved through more modern, efficient engines. Rather than the Libertys' 2,500horsepower (1,900 kW)triple expansion steam engines, Victory ships were designed to use eitherLentz type reciprocating steam engines (one ship only, oil fired),Diesel engines (one ship) orsteam turbines (the rest, all oil fired) (variously putting out between 6,000 and 8,500 hp (4,500 and 6,300 kW)). Another improvement was electrically powered auxiliary equipment, rather than steam-driven machinery.
To prevent the hull cracks that many Liberty ships developed—making some break in half—the spacing between frames was widened from 30 inches (760 mm) to 36 inches (910 mm), making the ships less stiff and more able to flex. Like Liberty ships, the hull was welded rather than riveted.[6]
The VC2-S-AP2, VC2-S-AP3, and VC2-M-AP4 were armed with a5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber stern gun for use against submarines and surface ships, and a bow-mounted3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun and eight20 mm cannon for use against aircraft. These were manned byUnited States Navy Armed Guard personnel. The VC2-S-AP5Haskell-classattack transports were armed with the 5-inch stern gun, one quad40 mm Bofors cannon, four dual 40 mm Bofors cannon, and ten single 20 mm cannon. TheHaskells were operated and crewed exclusively by U.S. Navy personnel.
The Victory ship was noted for good proportion of cubic betweenholds for a cargo ship of its day. A Victory ship's cargo hold one, two and five hatches are single rigged with a capacity of 70,400, 76,700, and 69,500bale cubic feet respectively. Victory ships hold three and four hatches are double rigged with a capacity of 136,100 and 100,300 bale cubic feet respectively.[7]Victory ships have built-inmast, booms andderrickcranes and can load and unload their own cargo withoutdock side cranes organtry if needed.[8]
The first vessel wasSS United Victory launched atOregon Shipbuilding Corporation on 12 January 1944 and completed on 28 February 1944, making her maiden voyage a month later. American vessels frequently had a name incorporating the word "Victory".[9] AfterUnited Victory, the next 34 vessels were named afterallied countries, the following 218 after American cities, the next 150 aftereducational institutions and the remainder given miscellaneous names. The AP5 type attack transports were named afterUnited States counties, without "Victory" in their name, with the exception ofUSS Marvin H. McIntyre, which was named afterPresidentRoosevelt's late personal secretary.
Although initial deliveries were slow—only 15 had been delivered by May 1944—by the end of the war 531 had been constructed. The Commission cancelled orders for a further 132 vessels, although three were completed in 1946 for the Alcoa Steamship Company, making a total built in the United States of 534, made up of:
| Quantity Built | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 272 | VC2-S-AP2 | 6,000 hp (4.5 MW) general cargo vessels |
| 141 | VC2-S-AP3 | 8,500 hp (6.3 MW) vessels |
| 1 | VC2-M-AP4 | Diesel |
| 117 | VC2-S-AP5 | Haskell-class attack transports |
| 3 | VC2-S-AP7 | Post war completion |
Of the wartime construction, 414 were of the standard cargo variant and 117 were attack transports.[3] Because the Atlantic battle had been won by the time the first of the Victory ships appeared none were sunk by U-boats. Three were sunk by Japanesekamikaze attack in April 1945.
Many Victory ships were converted totroopships to bring US soldiers home at the end of World War II as part ofOperation Magic Carpet. A total of 97 Victory ships were converted to carry up to 1,600 soldiers. To convert the ships the cargo holds were converted tobunk beds andhammocks stacked three high forhot bunking.Mess halls andexercise places were also added.[10] Some examples of Victory troopship are:SS Aiken Victory,SS Chanute Victory,SS Cody Victory,SS Colby Victory,SS Cranston Victory,SS Gustavus Victory,SS Hagerstown Victory,SS Maritime Victory, andSS U.S.S.R. Victory.[11][12][13][14][15]
Some 184 Victory ships served in theKorean War and a 100 Victory ships served in theVietnam War.[16][17] Many were sold and became commercial cargo ships and a few commercialpassenger ships. Some were laid up in theUnited States Navy reserve fleets and then scrapped or reused. Many saw postwar conversion and various uses for years afterward. The single VC2-M-AP4 Diesel-poweredMVEmory Victory operated in Alaskan waters for theBureau of Indian Affairs asNorth Star III.[3] AP3 typesSouth Bend Victory andTuskegee Victory were converted in 1957–58 to ocean hydrographic surveying ships USNSBowditch andDutton, respectively.[3]Dutton aided in locating the losthydrogen bomb following the1966 Palomares B-52 crash.[18]
Starting in 1959, several were removed from thereserve fleet and refitted for theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration. One such ship wasSS Kingsport Victory, which was renamedUSNS Kingsport and converted into the world's first satellite communications ship. Another was the formerHaiti Victory, which recovered the first man-made object to return from orbit, the nose cone ofDiscoverer 13, on 11 August 1960.USS Sherburne was converted in 1969–1970 to the range instrumentation shipUSNS Range Sentinel for downrange tracking of ballistic missile tests.[3]
Four Victory ships became fleet ballistic missile cargo ships transporting torpedoes,Poseidon missiles, packaged petroleum, and spare parts to deployedsubmarine tenders:[3]
In the 1960s two Victory ships were reactivated and converted totechnical research ships by theU.S. Navy with thehull type AGTR.SS Iran Victory becameUSS Belmont and SSSimmons Victory becameUSS Liberty.Liberty wasattacked and severely damaged by Israeli forces in June 1967 and subsequently decommissioned and struck from theNaval Register.Belmont was decommissioned and stricken in 1970.Baton Rouge Victory was sunk in theMekong delta by aViet Congmine in August 1966 and temporarily blocked the channel toSaigon.[3]
According to the War Production Board minutes in 1943, the Victory Ship had a relative cost of $238 per deadweight ton (10,500deadweight tonnage)[1] for $2,522,800, equivalent to $35,500,000 in 2023.
Most Victory ships were constructed in sixWest Coast and oneBaltimore emergency shipyards that were set up in World War II to build Liberty, Victory, and other ships. The Victory ship was designed to be able to be assembled by the smallest capacity crane at these shipyards.[3]
| Shipyard | Location | Quantity Yard | Type | Quantity Type | MCV Hull Numbers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethlehem Fairfield | Baltimore, Maryland | 94 | VC2-S-AP2 | 93 | 602–653, 816–856 | 23 more cancelled |
| VC2-M-AP4 | 1 | 654 | Diesel engine variant | |||
| California Shipbuilding | Wilmington, California | 131 | VC2-S-AP3 | 32 | 1–24, 27, 29, 31–33, 37, 41, 42 | |
| VC2-S-AP5 | 30 | 25, 26, 28, 30, 34–36, 38–40, 43–62 | 63–66 Transferred to Vancouver as 812–815 | |||
| VC2-S-AP2 | 69 | 67–84, 767–811, 885–890 | 10 more cancelled | |||
| Kaiser Shipbuilding | Vancouver, Washington | 31 | VC2-S-AP5 | 31 | 655–681, 812–815 | 17 more cancelled |
| Oregon Shipbuilding | Portland, Oregon | 136 | VC2-S-AP3 | 99 | 85–116, 147–189, 682–701, 872–875 | 19 more cancelled |
| VC2-S-AP5 | 34 | 117–146, 860–863 | 12 more cancelled | |||
| VC2-S-AP7 | 1 | 866 | Originally AP5 | |||
| VC2-S1-AP7 | 2 | 876, 877 | Originally AP3 | |||
| Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard | Richmond, California | 53 | VC2-S-AP3 | 10 | 525–534 | |
| VC2-S-AP2 | 43 | 535–550, 581–596, 702–711 | ||||
| Kaiser Richmond No. 2 Yard | 89 | VC2-S-AP5 | 22 | 552–573 | ||
| VC2-S-AP2 | 67 | 574–580, 597–601, 712–766 |
Three are preserved asmuseum ships:
Victory cargo ships of the United States Navy | |
|---|---|
| Boulder Victory class |
|
| Greenville Victory class |
|
| Lt. James E. Robinson class |
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| Ships | |
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| Lists | |
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See also, similar role:-Empire ship,Fort ship,Park ship,Ocean ship. | |
