The SS ''Baton Rouge'' was a cargo

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slig ...

built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. The ''Baton Rouge'' (MCV-846) was a type VC2-S-AP2 Victory ship built by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards. The Maritime Administration cargo ship was the 846rd ship built. Her keel was laid on June 21, 1945. She was launched on August 22, 1945, and completed on September 24, 1945. The 10,600-ton ship was constructed for the Maritime Commission. The American Export Line and later the Isthmian Steamship Company operated her under the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

act for the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

. Victory ships were designed to supersede the earlier

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. M ...

s. Unlike Liberty ships, Victory ships were designed to serve the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnag ...

after the war and also last longer. The Victory ship differed from a Liberty ship in that they were: faster, longer and wider, taller, and had a thinner stack set farther toward the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. They also had a long raised

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " b ...

World War II

Completed on September 24, 1945, the ''Baton Rouge'' did not operate during World War operations, as the surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15, 1945. ''Baton Rouge'' transported cargo that was not delivered to the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard ...

and

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U. ...

due to the shortage of ships during the war. In March 1, 1946 she docked at Newport, Rhode Island with 1,000,000 feet of Douglas fir and western hemlock lumber from Canada. Due to World War II there had been a shortage of lumber from Canada. On 29 November 1946 the SS ''Baton Rouge Victory'' collided in thick fog with the freighter SS ''Sea Centaur'' at the harbor near the San Pedro Breakwater, near the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor at night. Visibility was 150 feet that night. The ''Sea Centaur'', owned by the

Matson Navigation Company Matson may refer to: * Matson (surname) * Matson, Gloucester, England, a suburb of Gloucester * Matson, Missouri, an unincorporated community * 2586 Matson, an asteroid * Matson, Inc., a shipping company, formerly Matson Navigation Company * Matson ...

, was inbound from San Francisco. The ''Sea Centaur'' had damage to her bow above the water line from the ramming of the Isthmian Steamship Company's ''Baton Rouge Victory''. ''Baton Rouge Victory'' had just steamed in from the Golden Gate. The ''Baton Rouge Victory'' captain, J. A. Keerson, reported on the damage to the deck and flying bridge. After World War II, in 1947, she was laid up

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesap ...

in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

Korean War

In 1950 she was reactivated for the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. She made eight trips to Korea between 6 March 1951 and 28 March 1952. She helped American forces engaged against

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

aggression in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. About 75% of the personnel taken to Korea for the Korean War came by merchant marine ships. SS ''Baton Rouge'' transported goods, mail, food and other supplies. About 90% of the cargo was moved by merchant marine ships to the war zone. After the Korean War she was laid up in 1952 at Suisun Bay reserve fleet.

Vietnam War

In 1966 it was reactivated for the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietna ...

and operated by the SS United States. The ship had departed the San Francisco Embarcadero on 28 July 1966 with a crew of 45, loaded with military trucks and tractors, automobiles, mail, and general cargo. On August 26, ''Baton Rouge Victory'' was attacked by two 2,400-pound limpet mines while proceeding along the Lòng Tàu River, about southeast of

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. The explosions killed seven American civilian sailors on board and tore a hole in the ship's hull, forcing the captain to run the ship aground to avoid sinking and blocking the shipping channel. The number 3 cargo hold flooded quickly. The ship was refloated on 30 August 1966 and towed to

Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu (''Hanoi accent:'' , ''Saigon accent:'' ) is the largest city of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The city area is , consists of 13 urban wards and one commune of Long Sơn Islet. Vũng Tàu was the capital of the pr ...

. In 1967 the ship was scrapped at Hualien, Formosa, now called

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a Country, country in East Asia, at the junction of the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) to the n ...

Memorial and honors

The seven American civilian merchant Seamen killed in Vietnam are remembered on the Vietnam Service, American Merchant Seamen Memorial in San Francisco. The attack on the SS ''Baton Rouge Victory'' was largest single loss of life due to enemy action for merchant mariners in the Vietnam War.usdot, On Memorial Day, DOT honors fallen Merchant Mariners,May 29, 2012
/ref> Memorial, San Francisco

References

Sources