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Fleet of merchant vessels that took part of World War II for the United States
This article is about the merchant navy and the merchant marine of United States. For a more general article on the subject, see ship transport.
A United States World War II recruiting poster for the merchant marine
The ships were operated by volunteer civilian crews, that were employed and trained by private shipping and passenger companies. Most ships had armament for self defense, most ships had deck guns manned by United States Navy Armed Guard from the US Navy Troops. The 144,857 strong Navy Armed Guards also operated the radio, semaphore-signal flags, and the signal lamp. Navy Armed Guard were also training in first aid. United States Navy Armed Guard operated on 6,200 ships by the end of the war. Cross training with the ship's crew to cover roles was often completed. In 1943 the United States Merchant Marine Academy was founded train Merchant Marine officers.
The men of our American Merchant Marine have pushed through despite the perils of the submarine, the dive bomber and the surface raider. They have returned voluntarily to their jobs at sea again and again, because they realized that the life-lines to our battle fronts would be broken if they did not carry out their vital part in this global war. . . In their hands, our vital supply lines are expanding. Their skill and determination will keep open the highway to victory and unconditional surrender. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943
The Emergency Shipbuilding Program built many types of ships to support the war. The most numerous ships were the 2,710 cargo Liberty ships. Liberty ships were built between 1941 and 1945, with a new module assembly process so that about three ships were built every two days. Victory ships were a faster replacement ship for the Merchant Navy. Between 1944 and 1946, 531 Victory ships were built, with some to the US Navy and 414 to the Merchant Navy.
The Merchant Navy also operated: other cargo ships like: Type N3, Type C1, Type C2, Type C3, and the largest Type C4. Merchant Navy operated tanker ships like: T1 tanker, T2 tanker and the largest T3 Tankers for fuel oil, aviation gasoline, and Diesel fuel. Merchant Navy operated special ships like: Type L6, called Lakers, Type P1 small Passenger ships, Type P2 Passenger, Type R, refrigerated cargo ships, Type B Barges and Type V Tugboats. The Merchant Navy operated Troopships, both passenger ships and cargo ships converted to troopships. For World War II 97 Victory ships temporarily were converted to troopship. By the end of the war over 11,000 ships were under the control of the War Shipping Administration.
At the end of the war, the US Merchant Navy was given the task of helping bring Troops and for some their war brides home, called Operation Magic Carpet. Some traveled on Navy ships, but many of the 3,500,000 men and women came home on Merchant Navy ships, call troopships. Some of the US Merchant Navy continued in post-war relief efforts and general cargo shipping to help nations around the world recover from the devastating war. The Seagoing cowboys did United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation work from 1945 to 1947. Seagoing cowboys use cargo ships with added cages and horse stalls to take livestock to war-torn nations. Many merchant ships were placed in the Reserve Fleet after the war, some were sold, many scrapped and a few became museum ships.
War Shipping Administration and United States Merchant Navy routes during World War 2'Merchant seamen deliver what it takes to blast the Axis' - posterSS Lane Victory at dock, a museum ship Los Angeles, California
"The men and ships of the Merchant Marine have participated in every landing operation by the United States Marine Corps from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima -- and we know they will be at hand with supplies and equipment when American amphibious forces hit the beaches of Japan itself." Lt. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, U. S. Marine Corps Commandant
At its peak, about 130 companies served as ship operators for the War Shipping Administration.
American steamship companies operating merchant ships in World War II:
Milstein, Stewart B (April 2008). "Operation Magic Carpet" (PDF). Universal Ship Cancellation Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
Holland, James (2005). Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege, 1940–1943. Cassell Military. ISBN0-304-36654-4.
Spooner, Tony (1996). Supreme Gallantry: Malta's Role in the Allied Victory, 1939–1945. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Sawyer, L. A. and Mitchell, W. H. The Liberty Ships: The History of the "Emergency" Type Cargo Ships Constructed in the United States During the Second World War, Second Edition, pp. 13, 141-2, Lloyd's of London Press Ltd., London, England, 1985. ISBN1-85044-049-2.
Jacobs, Randall (1944-06-24). "SS Lawton B. Evans Commendation" (PDF). Letter to O'ROURKE, Calvin Stoddard, Seaman First Class, United States Reserve. Washington, DC: Navy Department, Bureau of Naval Personnel. Pers-68-MH MM/822 62 83. Retrieved 2020-11-01 – via Wikimedia Commons.
Benefits to Merchant Seamen: Hearings Before the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 1945, page 63
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