liberty ship
Liberty ships were a ship class, 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 constr ...
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
by
Delta Shipbuilding Company
The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed its name to t ...
Josiah Parker
Josiah Parker (May 11, 1751March 11, 1810) was an American politician, Revolutionary War officer and Virginia planter who served in the United States House of Representatives from Virginia in the First through Sixth United States Congresses ...
(1751 – 1810), an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
in the First through Sixth United States Congresses.
The SS ''Josiah Parker's'' Official Number was 242368. It was owned by the United States
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 ...
. Its MC Hull No. was 0132. It was laid down on July 16, 1942 and launched September 26, 1942.
Convoy UGS-37, 1944
SS ''Josiah Parker'' was one of the 37 ships carrying
United States Navy Armed Guard
United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War II and headquartered in New Orleans.World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine, 2007-2014 Project Liberty Ship, Project Liberty Ship, P.O. Box 2 ...
s in Convoy UGS-37, April 11–12, 1944.
"They were some 35 miles east of Algiers near midnight of April 11 and 12 when an undetermined number of enemy planes attacked. No ship carrying Armed Guards was hit by the enemy, but several ships received minor damage from the gunfire of other ships. Practically all ships opened fire and the amount of flak falling was quite heavy ... The ''Josiah Parker'' reported an explosion on one of the escorts and indicated that she too was hit by shell fragments."
The SS ''Josiah Parker'' was sold to private interests in 1947 and scrapped in 1964.