SS Bucknell Victory
Typical Victory Ship.
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | SS Bucknell Victory |
Namesake | Bucknell University in Pennsylvania |
Owner | War Shipping Administration |
Operator | Agwilines Inc |
Builder | Permanente Metals, plant No. 2 |
Laid down | December 27, 1944 |
Launched | February 10, 1945 |
Completed | March 7, 1945 |
Identification | IMO number: 5054616 |
Fate | Scrapped 1994 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship |
Tonnage | 7612 GRT, 4,553 NRT |
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 & LP turbines 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 |
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Notes | [1] |
The SS Bucknell Victory was a
Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier
World War II
For World War II the Bucknell Victory was operated by the
War Relief and Seacowboys
In 1946 after World War II the Bucknell Victory was converted to a livestock ship, also called a cowboy ship. From 1945 to 1947 the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the Brethren Service Committee of the Church of the Brethren sent livestock to war-torn countries. These "seagoing cowboys" made about 360 trips on 73 different ships. The Heifers for Relief project was started by the Church of the Brethren in 1942; in 1953 this became Heifer International.[5] The SS Bucknell Victory was one of these ships, known as cowboy ships, as she moved livestock across the Atlantic Ocean. The Bucknell Victory made five trip and she took 780 horses, several thousand baby chicks and hay bales to Poland on each trip. Bucknell Victory moved horses, heifers, and mules as well as a some chicks, rabbits, and goats.[6][7][8] In 1947 with her war and relief work done she was laid up in the James River as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. In 1950 a new war was starting in the Far East so she was removed from the Reserve Fleet.
Korean War
SS Bucknell Victory served as merchant marine ship supplying goods for the
Vietnam War
In 1966 she was removed from the National Defense Reserve Fleet again and reactivated for the Vietnam War. She was operated by the American President Lines. After the war, in 1973 she was laid up at Suisun Bay in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. In 1994 she was scrapped in China.[11]
Honors
Bucknell Victory earned
See also
- List of Victory ships
- Liberty ship
- Type C1 ship
- Type C2 ship
- Type C3 ship
References
- ^ Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
- ^ shipbuildinghistory.com Victory ships
- ^ USN Pakana AT-108
- ^ USA Ship Losses 1945
- ^ Heifer International
- ^ Sea going cowboys
- ^ seagoingcowboys, In Memorium, Posted on April 1, 2017
- ^ Seacowboys report
- ^ Korean War Educator, Merchant Marine, Accounts of the Korean War
- ^ Small United States and United Nations Warships in the Korean War, By Paul M. Edwards
- ^ Mariners UK, Victory ships
- ^ usmm.org, Battle Pacific
- ^ usmm.org, U.S. Merchant Marine Ships whose Naval Armed Guard crews earned "Battle Stars" in World War II