1.
Victory ship
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The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. A total of 531 Victory ships were built, one of the first acts of the United States War Shipping Administration upon its formation in February 1942 was to commission the design of what came to be known as the Victory class. The design was an enhancement of the Liberty ship, which had successfully produced in extraordinary numbers. Victory ships were larger than Liberty ships,14 feet longer at 455 feet,6 feet wider at 62 ft. Displacement was up just under 1,000 tons, to 15,200, with a raised forecastle and a more sophisticated hull shape to help achieve the higher speed, they had a quite different appearance from Liberty ships. To make them vulnerable to U-boat attacks, Victory ships made 15 to 17 knots,4 to 6 knots faster than the Libertys. The extra speed was achieved through more modern, efficient engines, most used steam turbines, which had been in short supply earlier in the war and reserved for warships. All were oil-fired, but for a handful of Canadian vessels completed with both coal bunkers and oil tanks, another improvement was electrically powered auxiliary equipment, rather than steam-driven machinery. To prevent the hull fractures that a few Liberty ships developed and these were manned by United States Navy Armed Guard personnel. The VC2-S-AP5 Haskell-class attack transports were armed with the 5-inch stern gun, one quad 40 mm Bofors cannon, four dual 40 mm Bofors cannon, the Haskells were operated and crewed exclusively by U. S. Navy personnel. The Victory ship was noted for good proportion of cubic between holds for a ship of its day. A Victory ships cargo hold one, two and five hatches are a single rigged with a capacity of 70,400,76,700, and 69,500 bale cubic feet respectively. Victory ships hold three and four hatches are double rigged with a capacity of 136,100 and 100,300 bale cubic feet respectively. Victory ship have built in mast, booms and derrick cranes, the first vessel was SS United Victory launched at Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation on 12 January 1944 and completed on 28 February 1944, making her maiden voyage a month later. American vessels frequently had a name incorporating the word Victory, the British and Canadians used Fort and Park respectively. Although initial deliveries were slow—only 15 had been delivered by May 1944—by the end of the war 531 had been constructed, because the Atlantic battle had been won by the time that the first of the Victory ships appeared none were sunk by U-boats. Three were sunk by Japanese kamikaze attack in April of 1945, many Victory ships were converted to troopship to bring US soldiers home at the end of World War II as part of Operation Magic Carpet. A total of 97 Victory ships were converted to carry up to 1,600 soldiers
2.
Liberty ship
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The Liberty ship was a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, the design was adapted by the United States for its simple, mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the now iconic Liberty ship came to symbolize U. S. wartime industrial output. The class was developed to meet British orders for transports to replace those torpedoed by German U-boats, the vessels were purchased both for the U. S. fleet and lend-lease deliveries of war materiel to Britain and the Soviet Union. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,710 Liberty ships between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design and their production mirrored on a much larger scale the manufacture of the Hog Islander and similar standardized ship types during World War I. Only three Liberty Ships are preserved, two as operational museum ships. S, the number was doubled in 1939 and again in 1940 to 200 ships a year. Ship types included two tankers and three types of merchant vessel, all to be powered by steam turbines, limited industrial capacity, especially for reduction gears, meant that relatively few of these ships were built. In 1940 the British government ordered 60 Ocean-class freighters from American yards to replace war losses and these were simple but fairly large with a single 2,500 horsepower compound steam engine of obsolete but reliable design. Britain specified coal-fired plants, because it then had extensive coal mines, the order specified an 18-inch increase in draft to boost displacement by 800 long tons to 10,100 long tons. The accommodation, bridge, and main engine were located amidships, the first Ocean-class ship, SS Ocean Vanguard, was launched on 16 August 1941. The design was modified by the United States Maritime Commission, in part to increase conformity to American construction practices, but more importantly to make it even quicker and cheaper to build. The US version was designated EC2-S-C1, EC for Emergency Cargo,2 for a ship between 400 and 450 feet long, S for steam engines, and C1 for design C1. The new design replaced much riveting, which accounted for one-third of the costs, with welding. It was adopted as a Merchant Marine Act design, and production awarded to a conglomerate of West Coast engineering and construction companies headed by Henry J. Kaiser known as the Six Companies. Liberty ships were designed to carry 10,000 long tons of cargo, usually one type per ship, but, during wartime, generally carried loads far exceeding this. On 27 March 1941, the number of ships was increased to 200 by the Defense Aid Supplemental Appropriations Act and increased again in April to 306. By 1941, the turbine was the preferred marine steam engine because of its greater efficiency compared to earlier reciprocating compound steam engines. Eighteen different companies built the engine. It had the advantage of ruggedness and simplicity
3.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
4.
Haskell-class attack transport
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Haskell-class attack transports were amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy created in 1944. They were designed to transport 1,500 troops and their combat equipment, the Haskells were very active in the World War II Pacific Theater of Operations, landing Marines and Army troops and transporting casualties at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Ships of the class were among the first Allied ships to enter Tokyo Bay at the end of World War II, after the end of World War II, most participated in Operation Magic Carpet, the massive sealift of US personnel back to the United States. A few of the Haskell class were reactivated for the Korean War, the Haskell class, Maritime Commission standard type VC2-S-AP5, is a sub‑type of the World War II Victory ship design. 117 were launched in 1944 and 1945, with 14 more being finished as another VC2 type or canceled, the VC2-S-AP5 design was intended for the transport and assault landing of over 1,500 troops and their heavy combat equipment. During Operation Magic Carpet, up to 1,900 personnel per ship were carried homeward, the Haskells carried 25 landing craft to deliver the troops and equipment right onto the beach. The 23 main boats were the 36 feet long, LCVP, the LCVP was designed to carry 36 equipped troops. The other 2 landing craft were the 50 foot long LCM, capable of carrying 60 troops or 30 tons of cargo, the Haskell-class ships were armed with one 5/38 caliber gun, twelve Bofors 40 mm guns, and ten Oerlikon 20 mm guns. See List of Haskell-class attack transports, Haskell-class attack transports included APA-117, USS Haskell, the lead ship, through APA-247, the never completed USS Mecklenburg. The hulls for APA-181 through APA-186 were repurposed to be hospital ships before they were named, ultimately those hospital ships were built on larger C4 plan and the six VC2 hulls were built in a merchant configuration. APA-240 through APA-247 were named, but cancelled in 1945 when the war ended, with the special exception of the USS Marvin H. McIntyre, the Haskell-class ships were all named after counties of the United States. Most of the Haskell-class ships were mothballed in 1946, with only a few remaining in service, many of the Haskell class were scrapped in 1973-75. A few were converted into Missile Range Instrumentation Ships, the USS Gage, the last remaining ship in the Haskell configuration, was scrapped in 2009 at ESCO Marine, in Brownsville, Tx. The USS Sherburne, which was converted and renamed USS Range Sentinel, lasted until she was scrapped in 2012
5.
Attack transport
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Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from commercial shipping fleets – that rely on either a quay or tenders and they are not to be confused with landing ships, which beach themselves to bring their troops directly ashore, or their general British equivalent, the Landing ship, infantry. A total of 388 APA and AKA attack transports were built for service in World War II in at least fifteen classes, depending on class they were armed with one or two 5-inch guns and a variety of 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons. Some of these were outfitted with heavy boat davits and other arrangements to enable them to handle landing craft] for amphibious assault operations. In 1942, when the AP number series had extended beyond 100. Therefore, the new classification of attack transport was created and numbers assigned to fifty-eight APs then in commission or under construction, the actual reclassification of these ships was not implemented until February 1943, by which time two ships that had APA numbers assigned had been lost. Another two transports sunk in 1942, USS George F. Elliott and USS Leedstown, were configured as attack transports. In addition, as part of the 1950s modernization of the Navys amphibious force with faster ships, as a result, only attack transport ships were assigned for the assault, without support from any companion attack cargo ships. This created extreme logistics burdens for the force because it resulted in considerable overloading of the transports with both men and equipment. To compound problems, these forces were not able to assemble or train together before executing the Aleutian invasion on 11 May 1943, lack of equipment and training subsequently resulted in confusion during the landings on Attu. By the end of the 1950s, it was clear that boats would soon be superseded by amphibious tractors and helicopters for landing assault troops. These could not be supported by attack transports in the numbers required, by 1969, when the surviving attack transports were redesignated LPA, only a few remained in commissioned service. The last of these were decommissioned in 1980 and sold abroad, the APA/LPA designation may, therefore, now be safely considered extinct. Nearly identical ships used to transport vehicles, supplies and landing craft, Landing Ship Infantry This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. APA/LPA -- Attack Transports by the US Naval Historical Center
6.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
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The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy. When the writing project was developed the parameters for this series were designed to cover only commissioned US Navy ships with assigned names, if the ship was not assigned a name it was not included in the histories written for the series. In addition to the entries, DANFS and the online links have been expanded to include appendices on small craft, histories of Confederate Navy ships. DANFS was published in print by the Naval Historical Center as bound volumes, ordered by ship name. Several volumes subsequently went out of print, in 1991 a revised Volume I Part A, covering only ship names beginning with A, was released. Work continues on revisions of the remaining volumes, volunteers at the Hazegray website undertook to transcribe the DANFS and make it available on the World Wide Web. The project goal is a transcription of the DANFS, with changes limited to correcting typographical errors. In 2008 the NHC was re-designated as the Naval History and Heritage Command and it has developed an online version of DANFS through a combination of optical character recognition and hand transcription. The NHHC is slowly updating its online DANFS to correct errors, the NHHC has begun a related project to place Ship History and Command Operations Reports online at their DANFS site. As the DANFS is a work of the U. S. government, its content is in the domain. Many websites organized by former and active members of U. S. Navy vessels include a copy of their ships DANFS entries. The Dictionary limits itself largely to basic descriptions and brief operational notes, and includes almost no analysis or historical context
7.
Shipyard
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A shipyard is a place where ships are repaired and built. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships, dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial construction. The terms are used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles. The shipbuilding industry tends to be fragmented in Europe than in Asia. In European countries there are a number of small companies. The publicly owned shipyards in the US are Naval facilities providing basing, support, Shipyards are constructed nearby the sea or tidal rivers to allow easy access for their ships. Sir Alfred Yarrow established his yard by the Thames in Londons Docklands in the late 19th century before moving it northwards to the banks of the Clyde at Scotstoun. Other famous UK shipyards include the Harland and Wolff yard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where Titanic was built, and the naval dockyard at Chatham, England on the Medway in north Kent. The site of a large shipyard will contain many specialised cranes, dry docks, slipways, dust-free warehouses, painting facilities, after a ships useful life is over, it makes its final voyage to a shipbreaking yard, often on a beach in South Asia. Historically shipbreaking was carried on in drydock in developed countries, but high wages, the worlds earliest known dockyards were built in the Harappan port city of Lothal circa 2600 BC in Gujarat, India. Lothal engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard, the dock was built on the eastern flank of the town, and is regarded by archaeologists as an engineering feat of the highest order. It was located away from the current of the river to avoid silting. The name of the ancient Greek city of Naupactus means shipyard, Naupactus reputation in this field extends to the time of legend, where it is depicted as the place where the Heraclidae built a fleet to invade the Peloponnesus. During its time of operation it was changed, rebuilt and modified. It is currently a maritime museum, ships were the first items to be manufactured in a factory, several hundred years before the Industrial Revolution, in the Venice Arsenal, Venice, Italy. The Arsenal apparently mass-produced nearly one every day using pre-manufactured parts. Chantiers de lAtlantique – established in 1861 Nantes-Indret, France – Establish in 1771 it built ships for the American Revolution including the Deane, jean Street Shipyard 1843–present – The oldest continually operated shipyard in the U. S. Located on the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida, Gloucester Marine Railways 1859–present – Oldest working shipyard in New England
8.
Terminal Island
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Terminal Island is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhood of San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long Beach. Terminal Island is roughly split between the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, land use on the island is entirely industrial and port-related, as well as the Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island. The island was originally called Isla Raza de Buena Gente and later Rattlesnake Island and it was renamed Terminal Island in 1891. The site chosen for the new plant was on a barren mudflat known as Rattlesnake Island, construction of Plant No.1 began in 1910. In 1930, the Ford Motor Company built a facility called Long Beach Assembly, the factory remained until 1958 when manufacturing operations were moved inland to Pico Rivera. In 1927, a facility, Allen Field, was established on Terminal Island. The Naval Reserve established a center at the field and later took complete control. In 1941 the Long Beach Naval Station became located adjacent to the airfield, in 1942 the Naval Reserve Training Facility was transferred, and a year later NAB San Pedros status was downgraded to a Naval Air Station. Reeves Field as a Naval Air Station was disestablished in 1947, a large industrial facility now covers the site of the former Naval Air Station. The island was home to about 3,500 first- and second-generation Japanese Americans prior to World War II in a known as East San Pedro or Fish Island. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, all of the adult Issei males on Terminal Island were incarcerated by the FBI on February 9,1942. Immediately after the signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19,1942 and they were subsequently sent to internment camps, and the entire neighborhood was razed. The Japanese community on Terminal Island was the first to be evacuated and interned en masse, because of the relative geographical isolation of the island, the citizens developed their own culture and even their own dialect. After World War II, the Terminal Islanders settled elsewhere, in 1971, they formed the Terminal Islanders Club, which has organized various events for its members. In 2002, the surviving second-generation citizens set up a memorial on Terminal Island to honor their parents, during World War II, Terminal Island was an important center for defense industries, especially shipbuilding. It was also, therefore, one of the first places where African Americans tried to effect their integration into defense-related work on the West Coast. In 1946, Howard Hughes moved his monstrous Spruce Goose airplane from his plant in Culver City to Terminal Island in preparation for its test flight, in its first and only flight, it took off from the island on November 2,1947. Preservation of vacant buildings earned the island a spot on the top 11 sites on the National Trust for Historic Preservations 2012 Most Endangered Historic Places List, in mid-2013, the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a preservation plan
9.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
10.
Bechtel
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Bechtel Corporation is the largest construction and civil engineering company in the United States, and the 9th-largest privately owned American company in 2016. Its headquarters are in the South of Market, San Francisco, Bechtels business activities began in 1898 when cattle farmer Warren A. Bechtel moved from Peabody, Kansas, to the Oklahoma Territory to construct railroads with his own team of mules, Bechtel won his first subcontract to build part of the Oroville-to-Oakland section of the Western Pacific Railroad. That same year, he bought his own steam shovel, becoming a pioneer of the new technology, Bechtel Co. on the side of the steam shovel, effectively establishing Bechtel as a company, though it was not yet incorporated. Bechtel completed work on a series of railroad contracts during the early 1900s, starting with the construction of Klamath River Highway in California in 1919, Bechtel ventured into jobs outside of building railroads. The company built roads, bridges, and highways throughout the western United States, the company worked on its first hydroelectric projects in the 1920s for Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California. By the time Bechtel incorporated in 1925, it was the construction company in the western United States. In 1929, Warrens son, Stephen, urged his father to take on the companys first pipeline project, Bechtel began working with California Standard Oil Company to build pipelines and refineries. In January 1931, Bechtel joined other contractors in the west to form Six Companies, Six Companies won the bid in March and construction on the dam began in the summer of 1931. Warren Bechtel died unexpectedly in 1933 while in Moscow on business and he was succeeded by his son, Stephen Bechtel, Sr. who became both the head of Bechtel and chief executive of the Hoover Dam project. Under his leadership, the Hoover Dam was finished in 1935, the project was the largest of its kind in US history at the time and Bechtels first megaproject. During World War II, the United States Maritime Commission invited the company to bid for a contract to build half of their order of 60 cargo ships, the company had no prior experience in shipbuilding, but bid for the entire 60 ships. Between 1941 and 1945, Bechtels wartime shipyards, including Marinship and Calship, Bechtel also worked on a pipeline from the Yukon to Alaska called Canol for the United States Department of War during this time period. Under Stephen Bechtel, Sr. the company diversified its projects, the company also focused on turnkey projects, a concept Stephen Bechtel, Sr. pioneered, in which Bechtel handled a project from planning and design through construction. Bechtel’s first job outside the US was building the Mene Grande pipeline in Venezuela in 1940. In 1947, Bechtel began construction on what was then the worlds longest oil pipeline, the Trans-Arabian Pipeline, which began in Saudi Arabia, ran across Jordan and Syria, the company continued to expand globally throughout the 1940s, particularly in the Middle East. In 1949, Bechtel began working with power after being contracted to build the Experimental Breeder Reactor I in Idaho. The company later built the Dresden Generating Station, the first commercial power plant
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