This book details the Liberty ships and the Emergency Shipbuilding Program during World War II. For the first time, comprehensive information is provided about the builders, the namesakes, and the operators under one cover. Included is a list of all 2,710 Liberty ships delivered by U.S. shipyards, giving each ship's namesake and detailed descriptions of the companies that built the ships and the steamship companies that operated them during the war. This book also details the formation of two shipyards in South Portland, Maine, the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Co. and the South Portland Shipbuilding Corp. South Portland's shady operations were investigated by the U.S. Congress and resulted in the merger of both companies into the New England Shipbuilding Corporation in April 1943. Also featured is the Jeremiah O'Brien. Built by New England Ship in 1943 and one of only two operational Liberty ships left in the world, its service history and crew information are given along with its postwar restoration and return to Normandy in 1994.

The only book devoted exclusively to a single merchantman's seagoing career during World War II, this work describes the activities of the Liberty ship John W. Brown and of the Merchant Marine and Navy Armed Guard crews who manned the ship. As the author demonstrates in this thoroughly researched account, Liberty ships carried about two-thirds of the vital cargoes transported overseas during the war and played an indispensable role in landing and supplying the troops that defeated the Axis powers in Europe and Asia. This book is based on logs, official documents, and reports in the National Archives, on the collection of unpublished Navy administrative histories in the Navy Department library, and on diaries, letters, and recollections of men who sailed on the Brown. The insights derived from the author's interviews and correspondence with a number of the Brown's wartime Merchant and Navy Armed Guard crewmen add a personal dimension to the narrative. A fine collection of photographs supplements the text.

Although not a weapon in the traditional sense of the word, arguably no item in the Allied arsenal contributed as much to the defeat of the Axis during WWII as did the Liberty ships. The 2,710 Liberty ships placed into service between 1941 and 1945 provided a vital link in the supply chain not only of US but also Allied forces during WWII. Although the basic design itself was obsolete even before the first one slid down the builder's ways, it had the advantage of being relatively easy to produce, and simple to operate and maintain. Thus, the vessels were mass-produced by no fewer than eighteen shipyards. Building time, initially 244 days, dropped to forty-two days per ship, although as a publicity stunt the Robert E. Peary was launched four days and fifteen and a half hours after the keel was laid.

“Deserves consideration from anyone interested in how the ship design process is translated into actual product which in turn can win a war.” —Warship International The Battle of the Atlantic, fought by the Allies to maintain lines of communication and vital trade routes for armaments, men, and basic sustenance, could not have been won without the 2,710 Liberty ships that were designed and built for those critical one-way voyages to Europe—more than one voyage was considered a bonus. The kudos for the Liberty’s construction rightfully belongs to America, but few people know that the groundwork for the shape of the hull and its basic hydrodynamics took place in the North Sands shipyard of Joseph Thompson & Sons Ltd on the banks on the River Wear in Sunderland, England. This new book follows the path of the critical designs that flowed from Thompson’s shipyard, commencing with SS Embassage in 1935, to SS Dorington Court in 1939, through the SS Empire Wind/Wave series for the Ministry of War Transport in 1940 to SS Empire Liberty in 1941. These led to the sixty Ocean Class vessels built by Henry J. Kaiser and, from these, the Liberty ship was adapted by American naval architects Gibbs & Cox who, to this very day, still claim they designed the Liberty ship. With the use of beautifully drawn ship profiles, starting with World War I designs, then the critical designs from Thompson’s shipyard, and particularly a drawing comparing the Liberty ship with its British progenitor, the author demonstrates just how much of the former was borrowed from the latter. While some credit has been given to Thompson’s designs, this new book offers the first real proof as to the direct link between his work, the Empire Liberty/Ocean Class, and the Liberty ship that followed. In addition, the book demonstrates the versatility of the Liberty ship and explores those that were developed for specialist use, from hospital ships and mule transports to nuclear-age missile range ships.

A chronicle of America's intensive shipbuilding programme during World War II, this explores the development of revolutionary construction methods and the recruitment, training, housing and union activities of the workers.

"Culminating with the efforts to preserve the last surviving examples of these great ships, this is a fascinating account of one of the greatest achievements in maritime history, and a fitting tribute to all those who made and sailed on the ships that won the war."--BOOK JACKET.