Type C3-class ships were the third type of cargo ship designed by the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The co ...

(MARCOM) in the late 1930s. As it had done with the

Type C1 ship Type C1 was a designation for cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original Maritim ...

s and

Type C2 ship Type C2 ships were designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in 1937–38. They were all-purpose cargo ships with five holds, and U.S. shipyards built 328 of them from 1939 to 1945. Compared to ships built before 1939, the C2s we ...

s, MARCOM circulated preliminary plans for comment. The design presented was not specific to any service or

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over land or water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a singl ...

, but was a general purpose ship that could be modified for specific uses. A total of 162 C3 ships were built from 1939 to 1946. The C3 was larger and faster than the C1 and C2 contemporaries, measuring from stem to stern (vs. for the C2), and designed to make (vs. for the C2). Like the C2, it had five cargo holds. A total of 465 of these ships were built between 1940 and 1947. A total of 75 ships were built with C3 hulls and engines, but not built as cargo ships. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many C3 ships were converted to naval uses, particularly as s, and as and s, ''Klondike''-class

destroyer tender A destroyer tender or destroyer depot ship is a type of depot ship: an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of ...

submarine tender A submarine tender, in British English a submarine depot ship, is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of foo ...

s, and

seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

Ships in type

*C3 DWT 12,595 ** ''Elizabeth C. Stanton''-class (AP 4 hulls) *C3 multiple or unverified sub-types ** ''Klondike''-class (AD 4 hulls) ** ''President Jackson''-class (AP 2+5 hulls, APA 5) ** ''Windsor''-class (AP 1 hull, APA 8+1) ** ''Kenneth Whiting''-class (AV 4 hulls) *C3-A DWT 10,000 as in *C3-E DWT 9,514 as in *C3-P&C DWT 10,000 some converted to *C3-S-A1 DWT 12,595 as in some converted to *C3-S-A2 DWT 12,595 ** ''Bayfield''-class (AP 16 hulls, APA 16+18) ** ''Aegir''-class (AS 4 hulls) *C3-S1-A3 DWT 12,595 ** ''Frederick Funston''-class (AP 2 hulls, APA same 2 hulls) *C3-S-A4 DWT 11,000 the six ''President'' ships *C3-S-A5 DWT 11,800 as in *C3-S1-BR1 DWT 9,900, three built: ''Del Norte'', ''Del Sud'' & ''Del Mar'' *C3-S-BH1 DWT 12,600 five built: ''Tillie Lykes'', ''Almeria Lykes'', ''Lipscomb Lykes'', ''Norman Lykes'' & ''Doctor Lykes'' *C3 Mod. DWT 12,430, as in *C3 conversion: Two Sun Ship C3 ships were converted to s. ''Mormacmail'' renamed and ''Mormacland'' renamed both were converted to escort carriers, at a top speed of .

Production

Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and, as of 2023, is the largest private em ...

, MS: 80 *

Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation The Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation (also operating as Todd Pacific) was an American corporation which built escort carriers, destroyers, cargo ships and auxiliaries for the United States Navy and United States Merchant Marine, merchant ...

, WA: 43 *

Western Pipe and Steel Company The Western Pipe and Steel Company (WPS) was an American manufacturing company that is best remembered today for its shipbuilding, construction of ships for the Maritime Commission in World War II. It also built ships for the U.S. Shipping Board ...

, CA: 43 * Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, MD: 21 *

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard in New Jersey active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. Unlike many shipyards, it remained active duri ...

, NJ: 19 *

Newport News Shipbuilding Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the sole designer, builder, and refueler of aircraft carriers and one of two providers of submarines for the United States Navy. Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock ...

, VA: 10 * Bethlehem Fore River, MA: 8 * Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., PA: 8 *

Moore Dry Dock Company Moore Dry Dock Company was a ship repair and shipbuilding company in Oakland, California. In 1905, Robert S. Moore, his brother Joseph A. Moore, and John Thomas Scott purchased the National Iron Works located in the Bayview-Hunters Point, S ...

, CA: 4 *

Tampa Shipbuilding Company Tampa Shipbuilding Company, or TASCO, was one of a number of shipyards in Tampa, Florida. It operated from 1917 to after World War II, closing in 1947. The site is now Gulf Marine Repair which operates with floating dry docks. History Origins ...

, FL: 2

Modified and redesignated

* 45 s * 59

Attack transport Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the Merchant navy, merchant fleet &ndash ...

s ** 3 ** 4 ** 2 ** 9 ** 34 ** 7 * 7

Submarine tender A submarine tender, in British English a submarine depot ship, is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of foo ...

s ** ** 2 ** 4 * 2 s ** AR-9 (prev: AK-29), AR-12 * 2 s ** , * 2

Seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

s ** ,

Notable incidents

* a C3-E, was torpedoed and sank off the coast of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

on 30 June 1942. * a C3, renamed ''Empire Condor'' was torpedoed and sank off coast of

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

on 13 August 1942. * ''Rio Hudson'' a C3-P&C, rebuilt and converted to ''Avenger''-class escort carrier. Was renamed was torpedoed and sank near

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

on 15 November 1942. * USN CVE-21, a C3-S-A1, was torpedoed and sank near the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

on 29 May 1944. * ''Rio de Janeiro'' a C3-P&C, ''Avenger''-class escort carrier, renamed , exploded and sank in the

Lower Clyde The Firth of Clyde, is the estuary of the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The Firth has some of the deepest coastal waters of the British Isles. The Firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre Peninsula. The Firth lie ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1943. * The SS ''Jacob Luckenbach'', originally ''Sea Robbin'', sank on 14 July 1953 after a collision off San Francisco in fog with another C3 ship, the SS ''Hawaiian Pilot'' (originally ). Both ships were built at Ingalls and were only five hull numbers apart. The wreck was determined in 2002 to be a source of oil pollution and about 85,000 gallons of oil were removed. * The USNS ''Card'' was attacked on 2 May 1964, while moored dockside in Saigon, a North Vietnamese frogman, Lam Son Nao, planted an explosive charge that blew a hole in the hull, killing five crewmen.

Citations

References