The SS ''Joplin Victory'' was the 12th Victory ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the California Shipbuilding Company on April 25, 1944 and completed on June 15, 1944. The ship's United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 12 (V-12). The 10,500-ton Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier Liberty Ships. Liberty ships were designed to be used just for World War II. Victory ships were designed to last longer and serve the US Navy after the war. The Victory ship differed from a Liberty ship in that they were: faster, longer and wider, taller, 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 ...

and had a long raised forecastle. SS ''Joplin Victory'' was christened on April 26, 1944 and launched at the yards of the California Shipbuilding Corporation. The launching of The SS ''Joplin Victory'' splashed into the water of Wilmington, Los Angeles.

World War II

SS ''Joplin Victory'' was operated by

Mccormick Steamship Company McCormick may refer to: Business * McCormick & Company, an American food company specializing in spices and flavorings * McCormick & Schmick's, an American restaurant chain specializing in seafood * McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, a manufact ...

under

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. SS ''Joplin Victory'' served in the Pacific Ocean in World War II as part of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. SS ''Joplin Victory'' Naval Armed Guard crews earned "Battle Stars" in World War II for the assault occupation of Okinawa.

Ward incident

SS ''Joplin Victory'' was part of a foreign relations project between the United States and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

called the Ward incident, a diplomatic incident. In 1949 she streamed in to China port city of Port of Tianjin, called Taku Bar at the time, to remove US citizens at Mukden. She steamed in with the '' Lakeland Victory''. SS ''Joplin Victory'' was in port from Dec. 5 to 7, 1949. The two ships removed the US diplomatic staff in China. US Consul General Angus Ward and nineteen other American citizens has spent time in a

Communist Chinese , anthem = "The Internationale" , seats1_title = National People's Congress (13th) , seats1 = , seats2_title = NPC Standing Committee , seats2 = , flag = Flag of the Chinese Communist Pa ...

jail. On February 3, 1949 she arrived in San Francisco with Shanghai refugees.

Korean War

SS ''Joplin Victory'' served as merchant marine naval ship supplying goods for the Korean War. She help move the 140th Medium Tank Battalion. About 75 percent of the personnel taken to Korea for the Korean War came by the merchant marine ships. The SS ''Joplin Victory'' transported goods, mail, food and other supplies. About 90 percent of the cargo was moved by merchant marine naval to the Korean war zone. SS ''Joplin Victory'' made trips between 18 November 1950 and 23 December 1952 helping 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, a s ...

aggression in South Korea. On Nov. 19, 1952 she was blown by high winds and broke loose from the Oakland Estuary pier, in Oakland, California. She ran into the side of a transport ship, the Navy's SS ''Neshoba''.

James River

She was laid up at

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...

in 1952 and later transferred to the

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 Chesapea ...

in Virginia as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet for years. In 1994 she was

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

in Alang, India.Reserve Fleet: Asset Or Scrap?, September 30, 1990, By CHARLES H. BOGINO
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References

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