SS Skagway Victory

SS Skagway Victory was a Victory ship built for the United States during World War II. She was launched by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation on June 21, 1944, and was completed on July 15, 1944. The ship's US Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 116 (V-116). She was built in 64 days under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. The Maritime Commission turned her over to a civilian contractor, the Alcoa, for operation until the end of World War II hostilities. She was operated under the US Merchant Marine Act for the War Shipping Administration.^[2][3]

Typical Victory Ship.
History
United States
Name	SS Skagway Victory
Namesake	Skagway, Alaska
Owner	War Shipping Administration
Operator	States Marine Lines Inc.
Builder	Oregon Shipbuilding Company Portland
Laid down	May 12, 1944
Launched	June 21, 1944
Completed	July 15, 1944
Fate	Wrecked sank in 1968
General characteristics
Class and type	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage	7,612 GRT 4,553 NRT
Displacement	15,200 tons
Length	455 ft (139 m)
Beam	62 ft (19 m)
Draft	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 (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	4 lifeboats
Complement	62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament	As World War II ship only 1 × 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun 1 × 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon (as Victory ship)
Notes	[1]

SS Silver Hawk after Hurricane Camille in 1968

Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier Liberty ships. Liberty ships were designed to be used solely for World War II, while Victory ships were designed to last longer and serve the US Navy after the war. The Victory ship differed from a Liberty ship in that they were faster, longer, wider, and taller, had a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure and had a long raised forecastle.

SS Skagway Victory serviced in the Pacific Theater of Operations during the last months of World War II in the Pacific War.^[4] Skagway Victory took supplies to support the Battle of Okinawa.

World War II

SS Skagway Victory used her deck guns to fire at enemy planes from June 7 to 28, 1945, to defend both herself and other ships at Okinawa. Skagway Victory took supplies to support the troops at the Battle of Okinawa.^[5]

Post War

In 1949 Skagway Victory was sold to States Marine Lines Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware and renamed SS Constitution State. In 1969 she was sold to Oneida Steamship Company Inc. of New York City and renamed the SS Silver Hawk. On August 18, 1969, she was driven around and broke in a Hurricane Camille at Gulfport, Mississippi. She was not worth repairing due to her age. In 1970 she was scrapped in Gulfport.^[6][7][8]

References

1. Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
2. "Victory Ships by shipyard". www.usmm.org.
3. "Outboard Profiles of Maritime Commission Designed Vessels". drawings.usmaritimecommission.de.
4. "U.S. Merchant Ships Participating in Pacific Theater Combat Operations and Engagements Earning Battle Stars". www.usmm.org.
5. "Action at Okinawa". NHHC.
6. "States Marine Lines - U.S. Merchant Marine". www.statesmarinelines.com.
7. "Silver Hawk". Ships Nostalgia. 2 October 2007.
8. "vicshipS". www.mariners-l.co.uk.

Sources

• 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: Victory Ships alphabetical list War II
• Victory Cargo Ships Oregon Shipyards Record Breakers Page 2 Archived 2005-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
• Appleman, Roy E. (1998), South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu: United States Army in the Korean War, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, ISBN 978-0-16-001918-0, archived from the original on 2014-02-07, retrieved 2022-01-17 p. 259