SS Atchison Victory
{{short description|World War II Victory ship of the United States}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:RedOakVictory-2013-07-20.jpg |Ship caption=Typical Victory Ship. }} {{Infobox ship career | Ship country = United States | Ship flag = {{USN flag|1945}} | Ship name = SS Atchison Victory |Ship namesake = Atchison, Kansas | Ship owner = War Shipping Administration | Ship builder = California Shipbuilding Company, Los Angeles | Ship laid down = 17 February 1944 | Ship launched = 22 April 1944 | Ship completed = 8 June 1944 | Ship operator = American President Lines | Ship fate = Sold to the United Kingdom, 1946 |
{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country = United Kingdom
| Ship flag = {{flagicon|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name = SS Mohamed Ali el-Kebir
| Ship operator = Khedivial Mail S.S. Company
| Ship route = Alexandria - New York City
| Ship fate = Sold to Egypt, 1960
|}}
{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country = Egypt
| Ship name = SS Salah El Din
| Ship acquired = United Arab Maritime Company 1961
| Ship flag ={{flagicon|United Arab Republic}}
| Ship fate = Burned, 4 September 1963
Sold to Liberia, 1963
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country = Liberia
| Ship flag ={{flagicon|Liberia}}
| Ship name = SS Mercantile Victory
| Ship fate = Burned, 1964
Scrapped, 1965
| Ship notes =
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class=VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
|Ship tonnage=7612 GRT, 4,553 NRT
|Ship displacement=15,200 tons
|Ship length={{convert|455|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|62|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|28|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship power={{convert|8500|shp|kW|lk=in|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=HP & LP turbines geared to a single {{convert|20.5|ft|m|adj=on}} propeller
|Ship speed=16.5 knots
|Ship boats=4 Lifeboats
|Ship complement=62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
|Ship armament=*1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun
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SS Atchison Victory was a Victory ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the California Shipbuilding Company on 22 April 1944 and completed on 8 June 1944. The ship’s United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 11 (MCV-11, V11). She was built at a cost of $3,606,688.00 in 1944.[http://appendix.usmaritimecommission.de/documents/costs%20on%20warbuilt%20vessels%201936%20to%201946.pdf Cost on war built ship from October 25th 1936 to June 30th 1946] The Maritime Commission turned her over to a civilian contractor, the American President Lines, for operation until the end of hostilities. Atchison Victory served in the Pacific during World War II. Her first stop was to Pearl Harbor on her way to the islands in the Pacific.The Atchison Daily Globe from Atchison, Kansas · Page 8, May 4, 1945
Postwar service
Atchison Victory was purchased by Furness Withy in 1946 and renamed SS Mohamed Ali el-Kebir. After refitting as an 8199-GRT 78 passenger, 1st class accommodations, cargo liner, she began service between Alexandria and New York City in 1948. She was renamed the SS Salah el-Din in 1960, but service to New York ended when she was nationalized by the United Arab Maritime Company in 1961 and converted back to a cargo only ship.{{cite book |last=Emmons |first=Frederick |title =The Atlantic Liners 1925-70 |publisher =Bonanza Books |date =1972 |location =New York |page =151 }}[http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/9-15.htm Lookback #656 – Salah El Din caught fire at Hamilton on Sept. 4, 1963, Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive]
After two 1962 voyages through the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the Salah el-Din suffered a superstructure fire on 4 September 1963 killing the chief steward and gutting the bridge and crew's quarters. The fire was extinguished with the help of Hamilton, Ontario, firefighters who prevented the fire from reaching explosive cargo in the forward hold; but the ship took on a heavy angle of list. Stability was restored by pumping out the firefighting water, and on 22 November 1963 the Salah El-Din left Hamilton under tow. Salvador Investment Company purchased the ship at Quebec City for repair in Houston. The ship was renamed SS Mercantile Victory and returned to service in March 1964, but suffered an engine room fire on the Red Sea on 23 April 1964. The ship was towed to Khorramshahr in Iran to offload her cargo, and then was towed back to Marseille in France. Repair was considered impractical, so the ship was scrapped at Castellón de la Plana in 1965.{{cite web |url=http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/9-15.htm |title=Salah El Din caught fire at Hamilton on Sept. 4, 1963 |last=Gillham |first=Skip |website=Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive |access-date=6 March 2016 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the ‘Victory’ type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
- United States Maritime Commission: [http://www.usmm.org/victoryships.html]
- Victory Cargo Ships [http://www.armed-guard.com/recbr2.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110003648/http://www.armed-guard.com/recbr2.html |date=10 November 2018 }}
{{MARCOMships}}
{{WWII US ships}}
{{Victory ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atchison Victory, SS}}
Category:Ships built in Los Angeles
Category:Merchant ships of the United States