dad’s ships

My father was estatic when I found photos online of his first ship, the Overseas Tankship Corporation vessel, Carlsbad.

“How we loved the captain! We would have done anything for him. He and the officers were Norwegian. We were a crew of 40, many of us boarded in Shanghai. We carried oil and went all around the world. I loved the ship, too. I made a model of the ship out of paper and the captain wanted it. He bought it for $20, purchased a glass case for it when we were in New York, and he displayed it in the officer’s mess.

“When my 2-yr contract ended, I boarded the Liberty Ship Benjamin H. Hill. We carried cargo. I was on board for only 8 months.

“Why are you asking all these questions? Why do you want to know this?”

SS Carlsbad
T2-SE-A1 

Built: 1945 at The Kaiser Company, Swan Island Yard, Portland, OR
Length: 159 ft 6 in (48.6 m)
Beam: 20 ft 7 in (6.3m)

Liberty Ship Benjamin H. Hill
General Cargo Vessel Type EC2-S-C1 (E = emergency, C = cargo, 2 = waterline length between 400 – 500ft, S = steam power, C1 = this design)
Built: 1943 at  J.A. Jones Construction Company, Brunwsick, GA
Length: 441 ft 6 in (134.6 m)
Beam: 57 ft (17.4 m)
Depth: 37 ft 4 in (11.4 m)
Speed: 11 kts

For more information on Liberty Ships: see
Ships for Victory,
Project Liberty Ship – cruise on the restored John W. Brown!
They also maintain the incredible resource, Armed-Guard.com with all their photos
ww2Ships.com
www.usmm.org 

Click on this link to see a wonderfully illustrated 1943 brochure on the capacity of a Liberty Ship.

Amazing site if you are into tankers: Auke Visser’s Historical Tankers Site

Happy Fathers Day!