Liberty Ships
Liberty Ships
Named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to bring "liberty" back to Europe, Liberty ships were from a British design and were built on a mass-production scale in order to save supplies. The first Liberty ship was SS Patrick Henry and was launched on September 27, 1941, at Bethlehem-Fairfield Yards, Baltimore, Maryland. As the war progressed, the ships were also utilized as troop transports in the convoys. Over time, the ships were deemed too slow and small, so a new line of ships were built, named Victory ships. Following the war, many of the Liberty ships were purchased for private merchant use. Three ships exisit today: SS John W. Brown; SS Jeremiah O'Brien; and SS Arthur M. Huddell.
Image: 80-G-244811: Aerial of SS Ceasar Rodney, Liberty Ship. Photographed by ZP-11, August 2, 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
