| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | George Calvert |
| Namesake | George Calvert |
| Owner | War Shipping Administration (WSA) |
| Operator | A.H. Bull & Co., Inc. |
| Ordered | as type (EC2-S-C1) hull,MCE hull 29 |
| Awarded | 14 March 1941 |
| Builder | Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard,Baltimore, Maryland[1] |
| Cost | $1,172,827[2] |
| Yard number | 2016 |
| Way number | 3 |
| Laid down | 19 November 1941 |
| Launched | 14 March 1942 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. William C. Sealey |
| Completed | 30 April 1942 |
| Fate | Torpedoed and sunk, 20 May 1942 |
| General characteristics[3] | |
| Class & type |
|
| Tonnage | |
| Displacement | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 57 feet (17 m) |
| Draft | 27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11.5knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) |
| Capacity |
|
| Complement | |
| Armament |
|
SSGeorge Calvert was aLiberty ship built in theUnited States duringWorld War II. She was named afterGeorge Calvert, anEnglish politician andcolonizer. Calvert took an interest in the Britishcolonization of the Americas, becoming the proprietor of theProvince of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island ofNewfoundland. He later sought a new royal charter to settle the region, which would become the state ofMaryland.
USAS American Mariner, originally launched as SSGeorge Calvert (build number 2007/MC Hull 20), should not be confused with this SSGeorge Calvert (build number 2016/MC Hull 29) which was constructed shortly thereafter.
Hull number 20 was reportedly set aside after launch due to structural problems during assembly. As a result, hull number 29 was given her name. Hull number 29 was sunk in May 1942, and, as a result, when hull number 20 was turned over as "ready-for-issue" to the War Shipping Administration in 1943, there was no reason to change her name since hull number 29 no longer existed.
George Calvert was laid down on 19 November 1941, under aMaritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 29, by theBethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard,Baltimore, Maryland; she was sponsored by Mrs. William C. Sealey, the daughter of L.R. Sanford, the chief of the inspection section at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, and was launched on 14 March 1942.[1][2]
She was allocated toA.H. Bull & Co., Inc., on 30 April 1942.[4]
George Calvert had set out fromBaltimore, in May 1942, on her maiden voyage, forBandar Shahpur, with 9,116 LT (9,262 t) of general cargo. After leaving a convoy around 11 mi (18 km) off theDry Tortugas, she was about 50 mi (80 km) northwest ofCuba, proceeding at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph) in azigzag course. At 19:08, in the evening of 20 May 1942,George Calvert was struck by two torpedoes fired from theGerman submarine U-753, at22°55′N84°26′W / 22.917°N 84.433°W /22.917; -84.433. The first torpedo struck five–six ft (1.5–1.8 m) below the waterline in the #3 hold, while the second set off themagazine, blowing off the stern-mounted4-inch (102 mm)/50 caliber gun, and killing threeArmed guards, when it struck 20 ft (6.1 m) forward of the stern. The remaining crew of eight officers, 33 crewmen, and 10 Armed guards abandoned the sinking ship in three lifeboats.U-753 launched at least one more torpedo at 20:03, which struckGeorge Calvert amidship, braking the ship in half and causing her to sink immediately. The survivors were later questioned byU-753 about the ships name, tonnage, and cargo. They landed atDimas, Cuba, on 21 May 1942.[5]
