 Typical Victory Ship. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | SS Georgetown Victory |
| Namesake | Georgetown University |
| Owner | War Shipping Administration |
| Operator | American Export Line |
| Builder | Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard Corp.Baltimore, Maryland |
| Laid down | 8 March 1945 |
| Launched | 28 April 1945 |
| Completed | 22 May 1945 |
| Fate | Wrecked and sank April 30, 1946 off Ireland |
| 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) |
| Draught | 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] |
SSGeorgetown Victory was aVictory ship built for theWar Shipping Administration late inWorld War II under theEmergency Shipbuilding program. She was a typeVC2-S-AP2/WSAT cargo ship with theUnited States Maritime Commission(MCV) -"Victory"; hull number 653, shipyard number 1597 and built byBethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation inBaltimore, Maryland, she was laid down on 8 March 1945.[2][3]Georgetown Victory, named afterGeorgetown University, was launched from the Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyard at Baltimore on April 28, 1945 and completed on 22 May 1945.
Georgetown Victory was one of many new 10,500-ton class ships to be known asVictory ships, designed to replace the earlierLiberty Ships. Liberty ships were designed to be used solely for World War II, whereas Victory ships were designed to last longer and to serve the US Navy after the war. Victory ships differed from Liberty ships in that they were faster, longer, wider, taller, and had a thinner stack set farther toward thesuperstructure. In addition, they had a long raisedforecastle.
Georgetown Victory was converted from a cargo ship to atroopship able to transport up to 1,500 troops. Her cargo holds were converted to bunk beds and hammocks stacked three high forhot bunking. In the cargo hold Mess halls and exercise areas were also added. She was operated byAmerican Export Line.
Entering service near the end of the war, theGeorgetown Victory and 97 other Victory troopships, were given the task of transporting the troops home as part ofOperation Magic Carpet. She was operated by theAmerican Export Lines.[4]Georgetown Victory returned the326th Glider Infantry Regiment home to the USA at New York Harbor on 27 August 1945, some of the Regiment also came home on theSS Cranston Victory.[5] October 19, 1945 she arrived inPennsylvania with 2002 troops, aboard was the 433rd Signal Battalion Heavy Construction; Headquarters and Base Service Squadrons of the 467th, 372d, 488th Air Service Groups; 1928th Ordnance Ammunition Company; 3629th, 3691st, 3633d Quartermaster Truck Companies; 5th Antiaircraft Artillery Group, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery.[6]
She arrived atPort Dickson on the west coast ofMalaysia on the 19 December 1945.[7] During the same month she took 1,400 troops home formMorotai inIndonesia toAustralia[8] On 20 January 1946Georgetown Victory departedLabuan inEast Malaysia and delivered troops toRabaul inPapua New Guinea on 28 January 1946.[9]Georgetown Victory arrived inBrisbane in February of 1946.[10]
On 27 Nov. 27 1945 inSaigon theMerchant Marine seamen of the ship SS Taos Victory, SS Georgetown Victory, SS Winchester Victory andSS Kingsport Victory held a joint meeting aboard the Taos Victory. The meeting was about if American Merchant Seamen should support FrenchIndochina Colonial actions. To quote:"THAT WHEREAS, we. as loyal American Merchant Seamen fought and sacrificed for the democratic principles and ideals as outlined at theTeheran,Yalta andSan Francisco conferences, to which our country was a signatory; and whereas our Government continues to charter American owned and operated, ships flying the American flag to a foreign government, in this instance, the British Government. At which government, in turn, is permitting theFrench Government to transportFrench Colonial Combat Troops to Indochina for the purpose of suppressing the attempts of the native population to establish a free and democratic government of its own choosing, a right that has been guaranteed them at all the Three conferences. "AND WHEREAS, the fact that these troops are equipped with American weapons, clothing and food, that are being transported on American ships by American seamen, make it appear in the eyes of the native populations that our Government is carrying out the imperialist policies of the French and British And then this one: "AND WHEREAS, we, as American Merchant Seamen, as far back as 1936. attempted by strikes and protest to bring before the American public the then dangerous policy that our government was following in allowing certain selfish and greedy vested interests to sell and ship guns, cotton, oil and scrap iron to Japan. Our protests and strikes against this policy were condemned by this powerful and reactionary group."[11]
She departedSydney with 1400 troops steaming toGlasgow in the United Kingdom. She stopped for water and fuel atFremantle in Australia,Colombo inSri Lanka andAden inYemen via theSuez Canal. On April 30, 1946, just before midnight,Georgetown Victory ran aground hard, at near top speed, 100 yards south of Killard Point, inCounty Down,Northern Ireland, north ofBallyhornan. All of the 1400Royal Navy andRoyal Marines aboard were rescued by a young police constable Eric Bownes[12] who was sent as the only police officer on the scene. From 12 Midnight to 5pm the next day, Eric worked to save the 1400 men. The following day, many fishing boats from the local community came to 'loot' the S.S Georgetown and the Royal Ulster Constabulary and authorities contained all the inventory of the ship.[13] The wreck was close to shore so some men were waded ashore with Eric and were brought to the aerodrome. The Irish Cloughey and Newcastle lifeboats were launched on the afternoon of 1 May to help. Winter storms later broke the wreck into two parts. Later, all remaining portable gear not already taken by looters was removed and the ship abandoned. The ship sections were salvaged in 1951 and consigned to the ship-breakers atTroon in Scotland. Parts of the ship are still at54°18′45″N5°31′15″W / 54.31250°N 5.52083°W /54.31250; -5.52083 (Georgetown Victory), where she ran aground, now a dive site.[14][15][16][17][18][19]
