Victory ship

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USS Liberty (ex- Simmons Victory ), 1967
USS Liberty (ex- Simmons Victory ), 1966
USS Liberty (ex- Simmons Victory ), 1966
Victory ships in a shipyard on the west coast of the USA

Victory ships were general cargo ships of the type EC2-S-AP1 , or from April 1944 VC2-S-AP1 . 534 units of the type were built in the Second World War from 1944 by approx. 700,000 specially trained workers at 18 US shipyards within a very short time according to standardized plans. As a rule, the construction time was less than 40 days.

The Victory ship design was a further development of the Liberty ship design as part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program of the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM). Victory ships surpassed Liberty ships in terms of their technical equipment. By installing a steam turbine with 6000  PSi instead of a piston steam engine, they achieved a speed of up to 15.5  kn and a greater range. In addition, the ship's design had more efficient cargo handling facilities.

The Victory ships were mainly used in the North Atlantic , but also in the Pacific , to bring soldiers and war material to Europe in convoy . The standardized construction made it possible to replace the large number of Allied merchant ships that were sunk by German submarines . Some ships were still sailing during the Vietnam War .

The first Victory ship was the United Victory , which was launched on February 28, 1944. The first 34 sister ships were named after the allied nations, another 218 after American cities, 150 after educational institutions and the rest got different names.

Three ships can still be viewed today:

literature

  • Armin Wetterhahn: US Standard Cargo and Passenger Ships 1938-1956 . Eckardt & Messtorff Verlag, Hamburg 1957
  • Walter W. Jaffee: The Lane Victory: The Last Victory Ship in War and Peace . Glencannon Press, 1997, ISBN 0-9637586-9-1 . (English)

Web links

Commons : Victory Ship  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files