SS ''Laura Bridgman'' was a

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 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

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 ...

. She was named after

Laura Bridgman Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman (December 21, 1829 – May 24, 1889) was the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, twenty years before the more famous Helen Keller; Laura's friend Anne Sullivan beca ...

, the first

deaf-blind Deafblindness is the condition of little or no useful hearing and little or no useful sight. Different degrees of vision loss and auditory loss occur within each individual. Because of this inherent diversity, each deafblind individual's needs re ...

American child to gain a significant education in the English language.

Construction

''Laura Bridgman'' was laid down on 23 September 1944, under a

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) 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, 19 ...

(MARCOM) contract, MC hull 2382, by

J.A. Jones Construction J.A. Jones Construction was a heavy construction company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Operating internationally since the 1950s, it merged with Germany's Philipp Holzmann, Philipp Holzmann AG in 1979. In 2003 the company ceased oper ...

, Brunswick, Georgia; she was sponsored by Ida Purcell, the wife of bishop

Clare Purcell Clare Purcell (17 November 1884 – 8 February 1964) was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Church, elected in 1938. Birth and family Clare was born 17 November 1884, the youngest of six children of Willi ...

, and launched on 30 October 1944.

History

She was allocated to

Seas Shipping Co., Inc. Seas Shipping Company, owner of the Robin Line was founded in 1920 in New York City, New York. The Robin Line named all its ships starting with the word ''Robin''. Robin Line was intercoastal fleet started as the predecessor of the Farrell Lines ...

, on 13 November 1944. On 16 October 1945, she was laid up 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 ...

, in the Suisun Bay Group. She was removed from the fleet on 26 June 1950, to be loaded with grain, she relocated to the National Defense Reserve Fleet, in the Hudson River Group, on 13 July 1950. On 12 December 1950, she was withdrawn from the fleet to be unloaded, she returned to the fleet empty on 19 December 1950. On 17 January 1951, she was sold to Drytrans, Inc., and renamed ''Catherine''. In September 1957, she was transferred to a

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...

n shipping company. On 14 May 1958, she was sold to Penntrans Co., and renamed ''Penn Explorer''. She was again sold to a Liberian company on 29 November 1961. She was scrapped in 1968.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laura Bridgman Liberty ships Ships built in Brunswick, Georgia 1944 ships Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet Hudson River Reserve Fleet