SSMinot Victory
 Typical Victory ship
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | SSMinot Victory |
| Owner | War Shipping Administration |
| Operator | Isbrandtsen Line |
| Builder | Oregon Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down | October 27, 1944 |
| Launched | December 4, 1944 |
| Completed | February 1, 1945 |
| Identification | IMO number:5236379 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1985 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship |
| Tonnage | 7612GRT,4,553NRT |
| Displacement | 15,200 tons |
| Length | 455 ft (139 m) |
| Beam | 62 ft (19 m) |
| Draft | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Installed power | 8,500shp(6,300 kW) |
| Propulsion | HP & LPturbinesgeared 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 | |
| Notes | [1] |
TheSSMinot Victorywas aVictory shipbuilt duringWorld War IIunder theEmergency Shipbuilding program.She was laid down and launched by theOregon Shipbuilding Corporation,and completed on February 1, 1945. The ship'sUnited States Maritime Commissiondesignation was VC2-S-AP3 and hull number 149 (1203). The Maritime Commission turned it over formerchant navyoperation to a civilian contractor, theIsthmian Steamship Companyunder theUnited States Merchant Marineact for theWar Shipping Administration.[2]She was named afterMinot, MaineandMinot, North Dakota.
Victory ships were designed to supersede the earlierLiberty ships.Unlike Liberty ships, Victory ships were designed to serve theUS Navyafter the war and to last longer.[3]Compared to Liberty ships, Victory ships were faster, longer, wider, taller, and had a thinner stack which was set further forward on thesuperstructure.They also had a long, raisedforecastle.
World War II
[edit]For World War II theMinot Victorywas operated byIsbrandtsen Line,and hadUnited States Navy Armed Guardto man thedeck guns.TheMinot Victoryarrived atOkinawaon April 11, 1945, in a fleet of 15 merchant ships serving in thePacific War.The ship was a supplier for operations in theBattle of Okinawalasting from the April 1 until June 22, 1945. On April 12, 1945, at 2:55pm while anchored atHagushi,the fleet came under attack, theMinot Victoryshot down a Japanese plane which had strafed her. The Kamikaze plane nevertheless crashed into her number 4king postmast, all told wounding five of the crew on board. At the time she had a 57-man merchant crew, consisting of 27 USN Armed Guard sailors and 9 civilians. She was then repaired and put back in service shortly.[4]Minot Victory's international radio call letters were A N G P. In 1948 she was laid up in theNational Defense Reserve Fleet,first atWilmington, North Carolinaand later transferred toBeaumont, Texas.[5][6][7]
Korean War
[edit]In 1950 she was reactivated for theKorean War.She made eight trips to Korea between March 1951 and March 1952 and helped the American forces engage againstCommunistaggression inSouth Korea.About 75 percent of the personnel taken to Korea for the Korean War came by the merchant marine ships, but theMinot Victoryprimarily transported goods, mail, food and other supplies. About 90% of the supplies brought to the war zone were carried by merchant marine ships.[8][9]In 1952 after the war she was laid up in the reserve fleet.[10][11][12]
Vietnam War
[edit]Minot Victorycarried goods andammunitionto support theVietnam Waras well. In May 1967 she ran aground on a coral reef in theParacel Islandsoff the coast ofVietnam,240 miles northeast ofDanang.At the time she was loaded with 6000 tons of military machinery and supplies bound for Vietnam. It took seven days and 300 men to unload enough of the cargo for her to float off of the reef. Heavy earth moving equipment were put on barges, with theRescue and salvage ship,theUSSCurrent,helping in the operation. Although the first attempt to get her off the reef (on May 21) failed, the tugsUSSMataco,USSTawakoni,USSHitchiti,andUSSMahopac,finally were able to free her at high tide with only minor hull damage. She unloaded the remaining cargo at Danang.[13][14][15][16][17]
TheMinot Victorywas eventually scrapped in 1985.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Babcock & Wilcox(April 1944). "Victory Ships".Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
- ^shipbuildinghistory.com Merchant ships Victory ships
- ^"Liberty Ships and Victory Ships --Setting the Stage".www.nps.gov.Retrieved2017-03-17.
- ^Kamikaze Attacks of World War II: A Complete History of Japanese Suicide Strikes, page 133, By Robin L. Rielly
- ^navsource, PGM-9 Class Motor Gunboat
- ^Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Volume 1, page 72
- ^maritimequest,Minot Victory
- ^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
- ^Sea Lift Korea Merchant
- ^The Merchant Marines in the Korean War
- ^Small United States and United Nations Warships in the Korean War, page 186, By Paul M. Edwards
- ^USS Current Report on theMinot Victory
- ^TheMinot Victorywith two lines in Vietnam
- ^Mariners,Minot Victory
- ^Mud, Muscle, and Miracles: Marine Salvage in the United States Navy, page 260, By C. A. Bartholomew, William I. Milwee
- ^Mobility, support, endurance: a story of naval operational logistics in the Vietnam War, 1965–1968, by Vice Admiral Edwin Hooper, USN (Retired), page 2-14
Sources
[edit]- Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell.Victory ships and tankers: The history of the ‘Victory type "cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II,Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
- United States Maritime Commission:[1]
- Victory Cargo Ships[2]Archived2005-09-22 at theWayback Machine
