User:Gatoclass/SB/Fletcher transports/Liberator

Construction and design
Liberator&mdash;a steel-hulled, screw-propelled cargo ship&mdash;was built in 1917–18 by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, a subsidiary of Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, on the yard's own account.(shipscribe) Her keel was laid 1 December 1917, and she was launched 24 March 1918 and completed in June. (abs) She was yard no. 151. On or before completion, Liberator was requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board and redesignated as a Design 1057B ship.

Liberator had a length of 410 ft, beam of 56 ft, mean draft of 30 ft, hold depth of 29 ft and moulded depth of 41 ft). She had a gross register tonnage of 7,707, net register tonnage of 5,892, dw tonnage of 11,713 long tons and displacement of 15,912 long tons. The ship had two masts, one fore and one aft, plus a radio mast amidships; a single smokestack; two decks not including the shelter deck; eight waterproof bulkheads and water ballast tanks.

Liberator was powered by a 2700 ihp, three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine with cylinders of 27, by 48 in stroke, driving a single screw propeller. Steam was supplied by three single-ended Scotch boilers with a working pressure of 220 psi; the boilers could be either oil- or coal-fired. The ship had a service speed of 10.5 kn.

U.S. Navy service, 1917–19
On 18 June 1918, Liberator was inspected by the Navy with an initial view to employing the vessel as a service collier. On 2 July, Liberator was acquired by the Navy and commissioned the same day as USS Liberator (ID-3134), with Lieutenant Commander Richard Farley, USNRF, placed in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), Liberator was immediately utilized to deliver a consignment of flour to Vallejo, California. The ship then departed Mare Island on 5 July for Port Costa, where she loaded a cargo of army supplies. From Porta Costa, the ship departed for New York via the Panama Canal, arriving at her destination 7 August, where she loaded additional cargo, bunkered, and underwent voyage repairs. On 13 August, Liberator cleared New York in convoy for Brest, France, arriving 28 August. From Brest, the steamer continued on to Pauillac, arriving 8 September 1918, then to Le Verdon-sur-Mer, reaching that destination 8 October, before leaving for New York the same day. Standing in to New York 22 October, the ship embarked horses and loaded general Army supplies, underwent repairs, bunkered, then departed in convoy on 13 November&mdash;two days after the Armistice&mdash;for Bordeaux. Arriving at her destination 28 November, Liberator discharged her cargo before clearing for New York 6 December, where she arrived on the 21st.

With the war over, the Navy undertook a rapid expansion of its troop transport fleet in order to quickly repatriate American troops abroad. As one of 56 ships selected for conversion to troop transports, Liberator was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force on 28 December 1918. From 3 January to 26 February 1919, Liberator was converted to a troop transport by the W. & A. Fletcher Company of Hoboken, New Jersey, at a cost of $206,110. After conversion, the ship had a troop-carrying capacity of 29 officers and 2,482 enlisted men, and a crew complement of 21 officers and 168 enlisted men.

Liberator departed for St. Nazaire, France, on the first of her five troop repatriation missions on 28 February 1919. At St. Nazaire, the ship embarked the headquarters, 3d Battalion, plus five companies of the 363d Infantry Regiment, 91st Division, before departing 19 March for New York, where she arrived 2 April. Returning to St. Nazaire, the ship embarked 29 officers and 2,478 men of the 103d Regiment, 28th "Iron" Division, including engineers, signal and supply elements and the divisional theatrical troupe, before clearing for New York 24 April. While in transit to New York, the ship was ordered on the 27th to divert to Philadelphia making all possible speed, to allow the entire 28th Division to participate in a homecoming parade in the city. In spite of three days of stormy weather&mdash;reportedly causing "nearly every man on board" to experience seasickness &mdash;Liberator arrived at Philadelphia two days ahead of schedule on 7 May. Here, the troops received an enthusiastic welcome from thousands of spectators, while the troops responded with cheering and singing. After entraining to Camp Dix however, many of the soldiers expressed frustration over the delay to their demobilization caused by the upcoming parade, as they were eager to go home.

On her third troop repatriation voyage, Liberator departed Brest on 3 June after embarking six aero squadrons along with five companies of the transportation corps&mdash;2,511 men in all&mdash;arriving New York on the 16th. The aero squadrons aboard Liberator on this trip included the 91st, returning from the war with three air aces and a collective total of 12 DSCs; and the 185th "Bats", the AEF's only night fighter squadron; the other squadrons being the 12th, 153d, 166th and the 223d.

Returning to France, Liberator embarked a number of service companies consisting of "mostly colored troops", before departing St. Nazaire 5 July and arriving at New York on the 19th. On her fifth and final troop repatriation voyage, Liberator arrived at Brest 9 August, where she embarked the entire 3d Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, along with the 3d Field Hospital and a medical detachment&mdash;806 men in total, including 24 officers &mdash;departing 22 August and arriving at New York 4 September. Company K of 3d Battalion had been the first unit of the American Expeditionary Forces to set foot in France, at St. Nazaire on 29 June 1917, and the 3d Battalion had also been the last unit of 1st Division to see action in the war, at Sedan on 9 November 1918.

Having completed her final voyage for the Navy, Liberator was turned over to the Commandant, Third Naval District, on 4 September, decommissioned 4 October&mdash;thus reverting to the name SS Liberator&mdash;and transferred the same day to the United States Shipping Board. On her five troop transport voyages for the Navy, the ship had repatriated a total of 9,568 troops to the United States, including nine sick or wounded.

Mercantile service, interwar period
After acquiring ownership of Liberator, the United States Shipping Board briefly chartered the vessel to the Export Transportation Company of Baltimore, which in February 1920 assigned the ship to transport a cargo of coal from Hampton Roads, Virginia to Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Steamship, 1920–22
On 25 September 1920, Liberator became one of seven ships sold by the USSB between September 1920 and February 1921 to a recently established Baltimore-based company, the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Steamship Corporation, which planned to use the vessels in a new intercoastal service operating between the East and West Coasts of the United States via the Panama Canal. Liberator, as the largest of the seven ships, attracted the highest price of $2,018,852.68 in the aggregate sale price of $10,443,057.66. As with most of the other ships, Liberator was to be paid for in a series of quarterly instalments over a period of about 11 years, with the initial cost fully deferred.

Liberator appears to have made her first intercoastal voyage for Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific in January 1921, transporting a cargo of general goods from Philadelphia to San Francisco. In mid-February, Liberator became the first of the company's ships to make port further north on the West Coast than San Francisco, when she docked at Seattle, Washington. On the return voyage, Liberator delivered 20,000 cases of salmon to Savannah, Georgia before continuing on to Baltimore and New York with a cargo of oranges and lemons&mdash;reportedly only the second time citrus fruits had been delivered by sea from the West to the East Coasts, and the first time Californian citrus fruits had been delivered by sea to New York. Though the sea route was some five days longer than the established rail route, the advantage over rail was in reduced freight costs of $1 per case or about $7,000 per shipment. By late June, Liberator had returned to San Pedro, California, where she loaded the then-largest cargo of citrus fruit from that port, consisting of 75 carloads, again bound for Atlantic ports. On 8 August, Liberator was temporarily disabled off Cape Henry, Virginia, after losing a propeller blade. The following month, the ship was back in Portland, Oregon, with a cargo of icemaking equipment and steel from the West Coast bound for transshipment to China.

On a voyage between San Francisco and Seattle in March 1922, Liberator was involved in collisions with whales on three occasions, giving both passengers and crew "a small earthquake fright" each time. Liberator's captain McKenzie stated that he was forced to slow the ship several times to avoid further collisions and possible hull damage. The collisions were attributed to an increase in whale numbers caused by "the gradual cessation of whaling" along the coast. On or about 6 June, Liberator arrived in Portland with some "unusual shipments of government supplies" including "15 huge caterpillar tractors for the United States forest service", plus coal and iron pipe; the ship also carried lighthouse supplies bound for Astoria, including a 9.5 ton whistling buoy and several other buoys. While reloading for the return trip to the East Coast, several of Liberator's crew were arrested for possession of narcotics and the captain fined $1168.60 under a newly passed law whereby a ship's captain could be fined for the value of any illicit drugs seized.

In August 1922, the Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Steamship Corporation was forced into bankruptcy following a rate war initiated the previous April between seven intercoastal shipping lines. On 12 August, the United States Shipping Board repossessed all six ships it had sold to the corporation two years earlier, including Liberator, for non-payment of due instalments, the corporation having managed to pay only $120,715.48 of the original $10,443,057.66 during its two years of operation, and nothing at all for Liberator. Following the repossession, Liberator was taken from Baltimore to the James River, Virginia, where she was tied up.

Pacific and Far Eastern service, 1923–39
On 5 December 1923, Liberator, under the agency of the Tampa Inter-Ocean Steamship Company, embarked on a trip from Galveston, Texas, to Kobe, Japan and the Far East with cargoes which included cotton.

By September 1924, Liberator had been chartered by the USSB to the Atlantic, Gulf & Oriental Steamship Company as managing operator, which in turn allocated the ship to the American Pioneer Line, a newly established shipping line which operated vessels between the United States and Far Eastern and Pacific destinations. Regular ports of call for ships of the American Pioneer Line included Kobe and Yokohama, Japan; Shanghai, China; and Hong Kong, while services were also maintained to ports in the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. Homeported at Galveston, Liberator would henceforth remain in Pacific and Far Eastern service until after the outbreak of World War II, making regular trips to Kobe, Yokohama and further afield, as well as the Philippines and Honolulu, Hawaii.

On or about 16 February 1927, Liberator departed Iloilo, Philippines, in response to an SOS sent by the freighter Elkton, which had run into a typhoon and become disabled about 200 miles west. Arriving at the last known location of Elkton, Liberator was unable to find any trace of the ship other than an oil slick. Liberator was later joined in the search by four US Navy destroyers&mdash;USS Stewart (DD-224), USS Sicard (DD-346), USS Preston (DD-327) and USS Paul Jones (DD-230)&mdash;but no further trace of Elkton was found, and on the 18th, Liberator herself was forced to make for Guam due to the bad weather. Elkton was eventually presumed to have foundered and sunk with the loss of all 37 officers and crew.

On 6 August 1927, on a voyage from Honolulu to Yokohama, Liberator had the highly unusual experience of encountering a derelict submarine in mid-ocean&mdash;near Midway Island in the Pacific. Adding to the mystery, the sub was rigged with a makeshift mast from which hung an extinguished lantern, suggesting that the crew may have tried unsuccessfully at some point to fashion a distress signal. The sub had first been sighted four months earlier, some 600 miles distant and about 840 miles northwest of Honolulu by the steamer Elk Ridge on 10 April, but Elk Ridge's crew had been unable to board the vessel due to heavy seas and the ship's report had at the time been dismissed as fanciful.

In Liberator's case, members of the crew were able to board the submarine for a closer inspection. On attempting to enter the vessel however, they were driven back by noxious fumes, thought to be chlorine gas generated by contamination of the sub's batteries with sea water. Before leaving the vessel, Liberator's captain, Clement D. Smith, ordered the opening of all hatches to allow it to sink and thus remove it as a navigation hazard. Smith was later criticized for failing to tow the sub to Midway for investigation, but defended his actions on the basis that as a mail carrier, his ship was legally bound to delay for no reason other than to save lives.

While the submarine continued to evade identification for some weeks, it was eventually identified by the hull marking "O27" as a German-built submersible which, after being sold to the Japanese, had broken away during a storm while under tow to Yokosuka in 1925 and drifted out to sea. The sub had apparently continued drifting for thousands of miles over a two-year period before its encounter with Liberator, completely defying the expectation of its owners that it was capable of staying afloat only a few days in an unmanned state.

On 31 August 1927, a number of changes to the management of the American Pioneer Line were announced by the USSB. The Atlantic, Gulf & Oriental Steamship Company, hitherto the line's sole manager, was replaced by two new managing operators, the Roosevelt Steamship Company and the Tampa Inter-Ocean Steamship Company, while the line itself was split into two separate divisions, the Atlantic and the Gulf divisions, managed respectively by the two new managing operators. Liberator was thus transferred to the management of the Tamp Inter-Ocean Steamship Company under the banner of the American Pioneer Line, Gulf Division. In December, Liberator became one of 44 USSB-owned ships to receive an honorable mention from the Board for efficiency of operation. By 1929, the American Pioneer Line, Gulf Division, appears to have been renamed the American Gulf Orient Line.

Lykes Brothers purchase and subsequent interwar service, 1933–39
By 1932, the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company had gained control of four shipping lines operating from the Gulf of Mexico, including the American Gulf Orient Line which included Liberator in its stable. Taking advantage of the post-Great Depression collapse in the price of shipping, Lykes Brothers gained approval in early 1933 for the outright purchase of 52 ships in operation with these four shipping lines that the company had hitherto been chartering from the USSB.

The sale was approved by the Shipping Board on 16 February 1933 and completed by the 20th. Under the terms of the deal, Lykes Brothers was to receive all 52 ships for the remarkably low price of $2,461,790, or about $5 per ton. As one of the largest ships included in the deal, Liberator attracted the fifth highest price for an individual ship, of $58,565. In the event, nine of the ships originally included in the deal were never handed over due to discrepancies in the paperwork, but Liberator was one of the 43 to be successfully purchased, and from this point until the end of her career, would remain under Lykes ownership.

On 4 February 1934, Liberator arrived at Galveston with a consignment for the Imperial Sugar Company of 96,000 bags or 1.3 million pounds of raw sugar&mdash;a then-record cargo of sugar from the Philippines to the port.

World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II, Liberator is known to have initially continued in service to the Far East, embarking on a trip on 24 April 1940 from San Pedro, California, bound for Shanghai, China.

After the entry of the United States into the war on 7 December 1941, all the ships owned by Lykes Brothers, including Liberator, were requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration, but remained under the ownership and immediate management of Lykes Brothers. For wartime service, Liberator was fitted with a single 4-inch gun, mounted aft for defense against submarine attack and manned by a U.S. Navy crew of four, bringing the ship's usual crew of 36 to a total of 40.

Friendly fire incident, 19 March 1942
On 12 March 1942, Liberator departed Galveston, Texas, bound for New York with a cargo which included 11,000 tons of sulphur.

danfs stuff
The first Liberator retained the name carried at the time of her acquisition, the second Liberator (AMc-87) was named for the general word classification.

I

(Id. No. 3134: displacement 15,912; length 410'; beam 56'; draft 30'6" (mean); speed 10.5 knots; complement 95; armament none)

The first Liberator -- launched on 24 March 1918 at San Francisco, Calif., by Union Iron Works -- was inspected by the Navy in the Twelfth Naval District on 18 June 1918 with an eye toward her employment as a service collier. Acquired by the Navy on 2 July 1918 and assigned the identification number (Id. No.) 3134, Liberator was commissioned at San Francisco the same day [2 July 1918], Lt Cmdr. Richard Farley, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), Liberator transported a cargo of flour to Vallejo, Calif., then sailed from Mare Island on 5 July 1918 for Port Costa. Loading a cargo of army supplies at that port, she sailed on 12 July for the Panama Canal. Proceeding on to New York, the ship reached her destination on 7 August, where she loaded additional cargo, bunkered, underwent voyage repairs, and ultimately cleared New York for France on 13 August. Proceeding in convoy, Liberator reached Brest a little over a fortnight later, on 28 August.

Steaming thence to Paulliac, arriving there on 8 September 1918, Liberator shifted to Verdon-sur-Mer, reaching that destination on 8 October, sailing immediately for New York the same day. Standing in to New York on 22 October, the ship loaded general Army supplies, embarked horses, underwent repairs, bunkered, and sailed for Bordeaux in convoy on 13 November, two days after the Armistice.

Liberator arrived at her destination on 28 November 1918, where she discharged her cargo. She sailed in ballast on 6 December, arriving at New York four days before Christmas of 1918.

Assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force on 28 December 1918, Liberator underwent alterations at Hoboken, N.J., to enable her to serve as a troop transport, to assist in the return of the American Expeditionary Force to the United States. She sailed on her first trooping voyage on 28 February 1919, setting course for St. Nazaire. Ultimately, she carried out five round-trip voyages between New York and French ports, returning to the former destination on 4 September 1919, where she was turned over to the Commandant, Third Naval District, for disposition.

Decommissioned at Hoboken on 4 October 1919, Liberator was returned to the U.S. Shipping Board on the same day, in whose hands she remained until sold to Lykes Bros.-Ripley Steamship Co., in 1933. She then operated out of Galveston, Tex., until the mid-1940's.

Robert J. Cressman

22 February 2016 Published:Mon Feb 22 12:33:36 EST 2016

(Str: t. 6,027; l. 410'; b. 56'; dr. 30'6"; s. 10.5 k.; cpl. 95)

One who frees or sets at liberty (a country) from domination by a foreign power.

I

The first Liberator, an animal transport, was launched 24 March 1918 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco; acquired by the Navy 2 July 1918 and commissioned the same day, Lt Comdr. Richard Parley, NSNRF, in command.

Assigned to NOTS, Liberator departed Mare Island 5 July; transited the Panama Canal and arrived New York 7 August. After loading cargo at New York she joined a convoy on the 13th and sailed for Europe. Arriving Brest, France, 15 days later, Liberator unloaded her cargo at French ports and prepared for another round-trip cruise from New York to France.

After the Armistice 11 November, Liberator returned to the United States for conversion to a troop transport. Alterations completed, she made a total of five cruises to European ports to embark American veterans of World War I for return to the United States. Liberator completed her final crossing 4 September 1919, decommissioned at Hoboken, N.J. 4 October and was returned to USSB. In 1933 she was sold to Lykes Bros.-Ripley SS Co., and operated out of Galveston, Tex., until the mid-1940's.

refs

 * danfs
 * milhist
 * navsource
 * johnsons -htrust
 * abs data 1922 -htrust
 * full history -divehatteras


 * horse transport, history of NOTS -htrust
 * oil or coal -htrust
 * delivered jul 2 1918 also bethship book -htrust
 * keel, launch, delivery dates, also union iw shipbuilding record -htrust


 * from st nazaire 19 march 363rd infantry, 91st division -np.com arrives ny 2 april -np.com
 * 26 april? due 9 may st nazaire to ny -np.com and theatrical troupe -np.com diverted to philadelphia for parade 27 april, division history -np.com


 * 28th "Iron" division arrives may 1919 -np.com
 * 91st aero squadron with 19 DSCs arrives jun 1919 -np.com
 * from st nazaire jul 2 -np.com expected 17 jul -np.com "mostly colored troops" -np.com
 * photo of wartime captain -htrust
 * arrives brest 9 aug 1919 -np.com
 * returns brest 4 sep with 3d battalion, 28th inf. reg. - first battalion to arrive in France -np.com


 * brief assignment 1920 -htrust
 * price for liberator, other agp ships -htrust
 * possible first trip through panama canal about 22 January 1921 -archive
 * first to take fruit in March 1921? -archive
 * confirmation of bankruptcy -htrust
 * lost propeller blade aug 1921 -htrust
 * cargoes 1921 fresh fruit, extends service to seattle -htrust
 * extends service to portland, seattle mar 1921 -htrust
 * icemaking equipment sep 1921 -np.com


 * whales apr 1922 -np.com
 * tractors and lighthouse supplies to oregon may 1922 atlantic, gulf & pacific -np.com
 * captain fined jun 1922 -np.com
 * collapse of company august 1922 -np.com
 * sep 1924 liberator to atlantic, gulf & oriental sub. american pioneer line, after shakeup -np.com
 * at american pioneer line jan 1925 -np.com
 * at american pioneer line 1926 ussb company -np.com


 * elkton lost 200 miles west of iloilo -np.com
 * cotton cargo june 1927 -np.com


 * taken from atlantic, gulf & oriental, and given to tampa interocean under the name american pioneer line, gulf division -nyt


 * submarine identity solved sep 1927 -np.com
 * liberator on ussb honor roll dec 1927 -np.com


 * stands by government dredge after sinking 1931 -np.com
 * sinks dredge may 1931 -np.com


 * sold to lykes 1933 for only $58k! plus a heap of other ships -htrust
 * philippines sugar 1933 -np.com
 * more on sugar shipment february 1934 -np.com


 * still in far eastern service 1940 -np.com


 * destroyer escort named after victim -htrust


 * export transportation co. = oriole steamship lines, baltimore jun 1920 -htrust
 * address and destination ports -htrust


 * navy chronology march 19 attack -archive