SS Cranston Victory

The SS Cranston Victory was the 19th of 531 Victory ships built during World War II. Cranston was launched by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation on 12 January 1944, completing its journey on 28 February 1944. The ship's United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 103 (1019). The Maritime Commission turned it over to a civilian contractor, the South Atlantic SS Lines, for operation.[2][3]

History
United States
Name: SS Cranston Victory
Namesake: Cranston, Rhode Island
Owner: War Shipping Administration
Operator: South Atlantic SS Lines
Builder: Oregon Shipbuilding Company
Laid down: March 13, 1944
Launched: May 5, 1944
Completed: May 25, 1944
Fate: Sold
History
Netherlands
Name: Zuiderkruis 1947
Operator: Netherlands Gov't, then Rotterdam Lloyd
Fate: Sold
History
Netherlands
Name: Zuiderkruis 1951 Rebuilt as emigrant passenger ship
Fate: Sold
History
Netherlands
Name: Zuiderkruis 1960
Operator: Rebuilt
Fate: Scrapped 1969 at Bilbao.
History
Netherlands
Name: NV Scheepvaart Maats Trans-Oceaan 1963
Operator: Netherlands Navy accommodation and store ship at Den Helder.
Fate: Sold
General characteristics
Class and type: VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage: 7612 GRT, 4,553 NRT
Displacement: 15,200 tons
Length: 455 ft (139 m)
Beam: 62 ft (19 m)
Draft: 28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power: 8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion: HP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller
Speed: 16.5 knots
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 4 Lifeboats
Complement: 62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament:
Notes: [1]

The Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier Liberty Ships that were designed to be used exclusively for WW2. Victory ships were designed to last longer and serve the US Navy after the war as these were faster, longer, wider, taller, had a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure, and had a long raised forecastle.[4]

World War II

The SS Cranston Victory was used as a troopship in World War II in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, able to transport up to 1600 troops. In 1945, it traveled from Japan to Seattle. On August 27, 1945, Cranston Victory arrived in the US from Europe with troops.[5] In October 1945, the SS Cranston Victory arrived in New York Harbor from Europe with troops. On December 7, 1945, the ship pulled in to Boston with troops from Europe.[6]

SS Cranston Victory and 96 other Victory ships were converted to troop ships to bring the US soldiers home as part of Operation Magic Carpet. These ships had accommodations with fully ventilated and heated rooms. Many had troop warm bunks, a hospital, galleys, washrooms, and public rooms. Cranston Victory's duties were short lived as the war came to an end.[7][8][9]

Private use

After the war in 1946 it was laid up in the James River National Defense Reserve Fleet in Virginia. Then on March 14, 1947, Cranston was sold for $1,005,431 to the Netherlands Government operated by Rotterdam Lloyd and named Zuiderkruis (in English the Southern Cross).

Initially, the Netherlands Government used the ship to move troops to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), and then to Dutch New Guinea. On her return voyages to the Netherlands, Cranston transported Dutch people that wanted to depart the former Dutch East Indies and return to the Netherlands. In 1951 she was rebuilt and converted to a 9,178 g.t. emigrant passenger ship and renamed the Zuiderkruis . Emigrant passengers migrated to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. When rebuilt a new deck was added and the bridge raised up and placed forward. The accommodations were improved and she could now carry up to 830 passengers.[10]

In 1960 the SS Cranston Victory was rebuilt again to a 9,376 g.t. passenger ship. In 1963 the ship was turned over to the Royal Netherlands Navy as an accommodation and store ship at Den Helder in North Holland, the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula, the country's main naval base. In 1969 she was scrapped in Bilbao, Spain.[11] The Netherlands Government also purchased the SS Costa Rica Victory, renaming her the Groote Beer, and the SS La Grande Victory (nl), renaming her the Waterman, for the same emigrant passengers to use.[12]

See also

References
  1. Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
  2. shipbuildinghistory.com Merchantships Victory ships
  3. Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, By John Killen on December 11, 2014
  4. shipbuildinghistory.com, Victory Ships list
  5. The Kane Republican from Kane, Pennsylvania · Page 6, August 27, 1945
  6. Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York · Page 24, December 7, 1945
  7. ww2troopships.com crossings in 1945
  8. Troop Ship of World War II, April 1947, Page 356-357
  9. Our Troop Ships
  10. SS Zuiderkruis seen at anchor in 1962
  11. US Maritime Commission 1947 sales
  12. Rootweb, three Dutch Ships that brought so many to South African shores

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:
  • Victory Cargo Ships
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