Page 62: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1995)

The End Of World War II: Looking Back 50 Years

British account in the U.S. and, indirectly, for the American Liberty ships. The first of those built in

America was the Ocean Vanguard, launched by Todd California on Oc- tober 15,1941. She was well named, since she was in fact the vanguard of the Ocean class vessels built for the British.

The Emergency

Shipbuilding Program

With the need for shipping be- coming critical it was natural that the U.S. Maritime Commission would think of the British program as a model for a possible American program of emergency shipbuiding.

The matter was reviewed in con- siderable detail during the latter part of November and early Decem- ber, 1940. AdmiralEmory S. Land, chairman of the Maritime Commis- sion, wanted the British and Ameri- can programs kept distinct and came around to the acceptance of the idea of a plan to build emergency ships on the same simple style of the Brit- ish ones, in the proportion of two thirds to one third of C1 and C2 type which the Commission was already building.

President Roosevelt viewed the matter differently. The President appears to have decided upon the emergency shipbuilding program just before Christmas. By Dec. 26, the matter had become a project to build 200 emergency ships.

The primary fact about the Lib- erty ship is that it was an emer- gency vessel. Before the name "Lib- erty" was attached to ships of this type they were referred to simply as "emergency" ships. They were given the "EC2" designation by the Mari- time Commission, which indicated that they were within the length range of the C2 ships, but unlike those long-range program vessels, the Liberties were intended prima- rily to meet the needs of the war emergency.

Justifying the Design

The Liberty ship began its career under the handicap of being de- scribed by President Roosevelt, during a fireside chat which reached radio listeners from coast to coast, as an unprepossessing looking ves- sel. Given the nickname "Ugly Duck- ling" before anyone had a chance to really see one of the ships, the name clung to the ship, barnacle fashion, until her reliability and general util- ity won for her the more compli- mentary title of "Workhorse of the

Fleet."

On July 2, 1941, the Washington

Star contained an article by Rich- ard L. Stokes, Washington corre- spondent to the St. Louis Post-Dis- patch, which was headlined: "Held

Ideal Targets For Stukas; Maritime

Commission, Having Acted In

Haste, Now Has Leisure To Won- der." The opening blast read, in part: "Instead of summoning American inven- tive genius to out-think what Nazi planes and submarines are doing now, the Maritime Com- mission reverted to a 1918 British type of simplified cargo boat... the Commission is at last finding the leisure to speculate as to whether targets more ideal for German Stuka bombers and undersea craft could have been hit upon if Air MarshalGoering and Admiral

Raeder themselves had been called into con- sultation."

It is evident that this article caused something of a stir within the Commission for Admiral

Howard L. Vickery requested the chief of the Design Specifications and Priorities Section of the Con- struction division, a Mr. Flesher, to report on the matter.

In this report Mr. Flesher re- minded the Admiral that the deci- sion on the design had been due to the fact that it represented what the

British considered to be the most desirable type of ship for this par- ticular service, "and they were closer to the actual need, naturally, than we were; likewise, they had elimi- nated many details of design which were practical to accept, in order to assure a satisfactory and reliable ship, which is so necessary in a large program." The design permitted ready operation by English crews and emergency repairs in England.

In the design of the ship as a whole "we kept in mind simplicity at the expense of efficiency, in order to expedite construction by inexperi- enced personnel."

Another primary consideration had been to have the engine parts interchangeable. The interchange- ability and consequent availability of engine parts made for great sav- ings in time needed for repairs. This applied even in foreign waters where it was not possible to secure parts (Continued on page 76)

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