Model, Liberty Ship
date: label: date made
content: early 1940s
label: launching of first Liberty Ship, SS Patrick Henry
content: 1941-09-27
name: label: attended first launching
content: Roosevelt, Franklin Delano
notes: label: Description
content: This model represents one of the 2,710 Liberty ships built during World War II. The designation EC2-S-C1 was the standard designation of the dry cargo Liberty ships that were used by the United States Merchant Marine to transport nearly anything needed by the Allies. Whether in Europe, Africa, or the Pacific, most of the essential supplies arrived on ships, including tanks, ammunition, fuel, food, toilet paper, cigarettes, and even the troops themselves. Manning these vessels was a dangerous task, as the merchant vessels faced tremendous losses from submarines, mines, destroyers, aircraft, kamikaze fighters, and the unpredictable elements of the various destinations. One in 26 merchant mariners died during the war, a higher fatality rate than that of any branch of the armed forces.
label: Description
content: Even before the United States was officially involved in World War II, shipyards on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts were building Liberty ships. Drawing from lessons learned at Hog Island in the First World War, Liberty ships were standardized and designed to be built quickly and efficiently. Using new welding technology, workers pieced together prefabricated sections in assembly-line fashion. This largely replaced the labor-intensive method of riveting, while lowering the cost and speeding up production. While it took about 230 days to build one Liberty ship in the first year, the average construction time eventually dropped to 42 days, with three new ships being launched each day in 1943.
label: Description
content: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended the launching of the first Liberty ship on September 27, 1941, at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland. The ship was the SS <I>Patrick Henry</I>, named after the Revolutionary War hero whose famous “Give me Liberty or give me Death!” speech inspired the ships’ nickname. At the launching of the first “ugly duckling,” the President’s name for the stout and functional Liberty ships, he praised the shipyard workers: “With every new ship, they are striking a telling blow at the menace to our nation and the liberty of the free peoples of the world.” President Roosevelt proclaimed that these ships would help to bring a new kind of liberty to people around the world.
place: label: Liberty Shipyards modeled after
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Hog Island Shipyard
label: Associated Place
content: Atlantic Ocean
label: Associated Place
content: Pacific Ocean
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Gulf Coast
topic: label: related event
content: World War II
label: related event
content: The Great Depression and World War II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Military
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content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
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content: Work
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
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: Gift of U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Maritime Commisison (through J. M. Winston)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.313022
label: accession number
content: 170015
label: catalog number
content: 313022
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship, Liberty
label: Object Name
content: ship, Liberty
label: Object Name
content: ship model, Liberty
label: Object Name
content: ship model
label: Object Name
content: model, ship
label: Other Terms
content: ship, Liberty; Maritime; Vessel; Cargo
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: maroon (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: approx: 14 1/2 in x 55 in x 7 in; 36.83 cm x 139.7 cm x 17.78 cm