Type C3-class ships were the third type of cargo ship designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in the late 1930s. As it had done with the Type C1 ships and Type C2 ships, MARCOM circulated preliminary plans for comment. The design presented was not specific to any service or trade route, but was a general purpose ship that could be modified for specific uses. A total of 162 C3 ships were built from 1939 to 1946.[1]
 Exporter, the first C3 ship to be completed. Shown in 1943, after conversion by the US Navy to USS Hercules. | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Type C2 |
| Succeeded by | Type C4 |
| Built | 1940–1947 |
| Completed | 238 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 7,800 gross tons |
| Displacement | 12,000 deadweight tons. |
| Length | 492 ft (150 m) |
| Beam | 69.5 ft (21.2 m) |
| Draft | 28.5 ft (8.7 m) |
| Installed power | turbine developing 8,500 hp |
| Speed | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) (designed) |
The C3 was larger and faster than the C1 and C2 contemporaries, measuring 492 feet (150 m) from stem to stern (vs. 459 feet (140 m) for the C2), and designed to make 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) (vs. 15.5 kn (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) for the C2). Like the C2, it had five cargo holds. A total of 465 of these ships were built between 1940 and 1947. A total of 75 ships were built with C3 hulls and engines, but not built as cargo ships.
During World War II, many C3 ships were converted to naval uses, particularly as Bogue-class escort carriers, and as Windsor-class and Bayfield-class attack transports, Klondike-class destroyer tenders, submarine tenders, and seaplane tenders.
Ships in type
- C3 DWT 12,595
- Elizabeth C. Stanton-class (AP 4 hulls)
- C3 multiple or unverified sub-types
- Klondike-class (AD 4 hulls)
- President Jackson-class (AP 2+5 hulls, APA 5)
- Windsor-class (AP 1 hull, APA 8+1)
- Kenneth Whiting-class (AV 4 hulls) [2]
- C3-A DWT 10,000 as in USS President Polk
- C3-E DWT 9,514 as in USS Hercules
- C3-P&C DWT 10,000 some converted to Avenger-class escort carrier
- C3-S-A1 DWT 12,595 as in HMS Tracker some converted to Bogue-class escort carrier
- C3-S-A2 DWT 12,595
- Bayfield-class (AP 16 hulls, APA 16+18)
- Aegir-class (AS 4 hulls)
- C3-S1-A3 DWT 12,595
- Frederick Funston-class (AP 2 hulls, APA same 2 hulls)
- C3-S-A4 DWT 11,000 the six President ships
- C3-S-A5 DWT 11,800 as in HMS Chaser
- C3-S1-BR1 DWT 9,900, three built: Del Norte, Del Sud & Del Mar
- C3-S-BH1 DWT 12,600 five built: Tillie Lykes, Almeria Lykes, Lipscomb Lykes, Norman Lykes & Doctor Lykes
- C3 Mod. DWT 12,430, as in USS Euryale
- C3 conversion: Two Sun Ship C3 ships were converted to Long Island-class escort carriers. Mormacmail renamed USS Long Island and Mormacland renamed HMS Archer both were converted to escort carriers, at a top speed of 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).[3][4]
Production
- Ingalls Shipbuilding, MS: 80
- Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, WA: 43
- Western Pipe and Steel Company, CA: 43
- Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, MD: 21
- Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, NJ: 19
- Newport News Shipbuilding, VA: 10
- Bethlehem Fore River, MA: 8
- Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., PA: 8
- Moore Dry Dock Company, CA: 4
- Tampa Shipbuilding Company, FL: 2
Modified and redesignated
- 45 Bogue-class escort carriers
- 59 Attack transports
- 7 Submarine tenders
- Euryale (AS-22)
- 2 Griffin-class
- 4 Aegir-class
- 2 Delta-class repair ships
- AR-9 (prev: AK-29), AR-12
- 2 Amphion-class repair ships
- 2 Seaplane tenders
Notable incidents
- Express a C3-E, was torpedoed and sank off the coast of Madagascar on 30 June 1942.
- Almeria Lykes a C3, renamed Empire Condor was torpedoed and sank off coast of Tunisia on 13 August 1942.
- Rio Hudson a C3-P&C, rebuilt and converted to Avenger-class escort carrier. Was renamed HMS Avenger was torpedoed and sank near Gibraltar on 15 November 1942.
- USS Block Island USN CVE-21, a C3-S-A1, was torpedoed and sank near the Azores-Canary Islands on 29 May 1944.
- Rio de Janeiro a C3-P&C, Avenger-class escort carrier, renamed HMS Dasher, exploded and sank in the Lower Clyde in Scotland in 1943.
- The SS Jacob Luckenbach, originally Sea Robbin, sank on 14 July 1953 after a collision off San Francisco in fog with another C3 ship, the SS Hawaiian Pilot (originally USS Burleigh (APA-95)). Both ships were built at Ingalls and were only five hull numbers apart. The wreck was determined in 2002 to be a source of oil pollution and about 85,000 gallons of oil were removed.[5]
- The USNS Card was attacked on 2 May 1964, while moored dockside in Saigon, a North Vietnamese frogman, Lam Son Nao, planted an explosive charge that blew a hole in the hull, killing five crewmen.
See also
Citations
References
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