Ship Model, Transport <I>American Merchant</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1920
notes: label: Description
content: The United States entered World War I in April 1917. Within days, the federal government created the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to construct a fleet of merchant ships. The EFC hired the American International Shipbuilding Corporation to build and operate the largest shipyard in the world: Hog Island, near Philadelphia.
label: Description
content: Most of the Emergency Fleet Corporation’s 122 ships were Type A cargo freighters. However, a few were Type B troop transports. Originally named <I>Sisladobsis</I>, this single-screw transport was completed in December 1920 by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation as <I>Aisne</I> for the US Shipping Board at Hog Island, Philadelphia. In 1924, it was renamed the <I>American Merchant</I> and later sold to the United States Lines. In February 1940 it was sold again to a Belgian holding company partly owned by the United States Lines and renamed <I>Ville de Namur</I>.
label: Description
content: In mid-June 1940, the <I>Ville</I> was transporting a cargo of horses from Bordeaux, France to Liverpool, England. On the 19th, it was struck by two torpedoes from the German U-Boat U-52 and sank quickly. Fifty-four of its crew of 79 survived.
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: The Emergence of Modern America
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transferred from U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce (through Hon. Wesley L. Jones)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.306999
label: accession number
content: 64928
label: catalog number
content: TR*306999
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship
label: Object Name
content: ship model
label: Object Name
content: model, ship
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 5/8 in x 56 1/4 in x 7 5/8 in; 39.6875 cm x 142.875 cm x 19.3675 cm