SS Jeremiah O ' Brien History . Built in just 56 days at the New England Shipbuilding Corporation in South Portland , Maine , and launched on 19 June 1943 , this class EC2 - S - CI ship not only made four perilous round trip wartime crossings of the Atlantic and served on D - Day , the vessel later saw sixteen months of service in both the $ 3 and the Indian Ocean calling at ports in Chile , Peru , New Guinea , the Philippines , India , China , and Australia . The end of the war caused most of the Liberty ships to be removed from service in 1946 and many were subsequently sold to foreign and domestic buyers . Others were retained by the U . S . Maritime Commission for potential reactivation in the event of future military conflicts . " Jeremiah O ' Brien " was mothballed and remained in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay for 33 years . In the 1970s , however , the idea of preserving an unaltered Liberty Ship began to be developed and , under the sponsorship of Rear Admiral Thomas J . Patterson , USMS , ( then the Western Regional Director of the U . S . Maritime Administration ) the ship was put aside for preservation instead of being sold for scrap . In a 1994 interview printed by the Vintage Preservation magazine " Old Glory , " Patterson is alleged to have claimed the ship was steamed to her anchorage in the mothball fleet ( unlike the many that were secured as unservicable and towed into storage ) , and frequently placed at the back of the list for disposal , which undoubtedly contributed to her survival . An all volunteer group , the National Liberty Ship Memorial ( NLSM ) , acquired " Jeremiah O ' Brien " in 1979 for restoration . At that time she was virtually the last Liberty at the anchorage . Amazingly , those who volunteered to resurrect the mothballed ship ( led by Captain Edward MacMichael , NLSM Executive Director and Master ) were able to get the antiquated steam plant operating while she remained in Suisun Bay . After more than three decades in mothballs , " Jeremiah O ' Brien ' s " boilers were lit . The ship left the mothball fleet on 21 May 1980 bound for San Francisco Bay , drydocking , and thousands of hours of restoration work . She was the only Liberty Ship to leave the mothball fleet under her own power . She then moved to Fort Mason , on the San Francisco waterfront just to the west of Fisherman ' s Wharf . There " Jeremiah O ' Brien " became a floating museum dedicated to the men and women who built and sailed the ships of United States Merchant Marine in World War II . Licensed to carry tours around San Francisco bay , it was suggested that the ship be restored to ocean going specification , and after efforts in securing sponsorship this was accomplished in time for the 50th " D - Day " Anniversary Celebrations in 1994 . The ship makes several passenger - carrying daylight cruises each year in the San Francisco Bay Area , and occasional voyages to more distant ports such as Seattle and San Diego . Footage of the ship ' s engines was used in the 1997 film " Titanic " to depict the ill - fated ship ' s own engines . 50th Anniversary of D - Day . In 1994 the " Jeremiah O ' Brien " , in its eighth voyage , ( the previous seven were during World War II ) steamed through the Golden Gate , down the west coast , through the Panama Canal , and across the Atlantic to England and France , where " Jeremiah O ' Brien " and her crew ( a volunteer crew of veteran World War II - era sailors and a few cadets from the California Maritime Academy ) participated in the 50th Anniversary of Operation Overlord , the allied invasion of Normandy that turned the tide of World War II in Europe — the only large ship from the original Normandy flotilla to return for the 50th anniversary celebration . SS " Jeremiah O ' Brien " was designated a National Historic Landmark , and is docked at Pier 45 at Fisherman ' s Wharf , San Francisco , California . It also hosts the amateur radio station K6JOB .