page_title: Maritime history of the United States (1900–1999)
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Maritime history of the United States (1900–1999) / 1940s / World War II
caption_attribution_description: "Let's finish the job! Urgent -- experienced seamen needed! Artist: , 1944 Dimensions: 28 x 20 inches Published [Washington, D.C.]&#160;: U. S. GPO
context_page_description: The United States merchant marine forces matured during the maritime history of the United States (1900–1999).
context_section_description: As with the other military services, the entry of the United States into World War II necessitated the immediate growth of the merchant marine and the Coast Guard.  The Maritime Commission spawned the War Shipping Administration in early February 1942. This new agency received a number of functions considered vital to the war effort, including maritime training. Several weeks after the creation of the new agency, however, the Maritime Service was transferred again to the Coast Guard.  The transfer allowed the War Shipping Administration to concentrate on organizing American merchant shipping, building new ships, and carrying cargoes where they were needed most.
  The need for administering the merchant marine during wartime was demonstrated during World War I.  Commerce warfare, carried on by submarines and merchant raiders, had a disastrous effect on the Allied merchant fleet.  With the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, U-boats sank ships faster than replacements could be built.
  The United States intended to meet this crisis with large numbers of mass-produced freighters and transports.  When World War II loomed, the Maritime Commission began a crash shipbuilding program utilizing every available resource.  The experienced shipyards built complicated vessels, such as warships.  New shipyards, which opened almost overnight around the country, generally built less sophisticated ships such as the emergency construction Liberty ships.  By 1945, the shipyards had completed more than 2,700 "Liberty" ships and hundreds of "Victory" ships, tankers and transports.
  All of these new ships needed trained officers and crews to operate them.  The Coast Guard provided much of the advanced training for merchant marine personnel to augment the training of state merchant marine academies.  The Maritime Commission requested that the Coast Guard provide training in 1938 when the Maritime Service was created.  Merchant sailors from around the country trained at two large training stations.  On the East Coast, the men trained at Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut, and Government Island, California|Government Island in Alameda, California served the West Coast.  In 1940 Hoffman Island in New York Harbor became the third training station for the service.  After the start of the war, other training stations were added in Boston, Port Hueneme, California, and St. Petersburg, Florida.
  Training ships manned by the Coast Guard included the Maritime Commission steamships American Seaman, American Mariner, and American Sailor. One of these ships, the 7,000-gross-ton American Seaman, carried 250 trainees in addition to the regular crew of 18 officers and 100 enlisted men. Four complete machine shops, various lifeboats and up-to-date navigational equipment comprised the special educational equipment. In addition the Coast Guard manned the full-rigged sail training ships Tusitala and Joseph Conrad, as well as the auxiliary schooner Vema. The 261-foot Tusitala was built in Greenock, Scotland in 1883 and operated in merchant service before becoming a receiving ship in St. Petersburg in 1940. The 165-foot Joseph Conrad sailed from Jacksonville, Florida to train apprentice seamen. The training ships were important commands. These steamships were the largest ships manned by the service prior to the Coast Guard joining the Navy in World War II. CDR Alfred C. Richmond, who commanded the American Sailor, the first Maritime Service training ship, later became Commandant of the Coast Guard.
  Licensed and unlicensed merchant marine personnel enrolled in the service. The ranks, grades, and ratings for the Maritime Service were based on those of the Coast Guard. Training for experienced personnel lasted three months; while inexperienced personnel trained for six months. Pay was based on the person's highest certified position in merchant service. New students received cadet wages. American citizens at least 19 years old, with one year of service on American merchant vessels of more than 500 gross tons, were eligible for enrollment. Coast Guard
caption: AB's were in high demand during World War II.
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