The SS ''M. I. T. Victory'' was a

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 slight ...

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 opposin ...

and used as a troop transport. She was later named USAT ''MIT Victory'' and finally USAT ''Lt. Alexander R. Nininger''. Note: In 1944 there was a different transport ship named ''Alexander R. Nininger, Jr.''.

Service life

''M. I. T. Victory'' was part of the series of Victory ships named after educational institutions, in this case the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. Her design type was VC2-S-AP2/WSAT. Her Maritime Commission (MCV) hull number was 819 and her shipyard number was 2472. She was a

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 Co ...

Transport (WSAT) designed to carry 1,597 troops. She was launched and christened on 12 May 1945, shortly after

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

. Her sponsor was Mrs. Margaret H. Compton, wife of MIT President

Karl T. Compton Karl Taylor Compton (September 14, 1887 – June 22, 1954) was a prominent American physicist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1930 to 1948. The early years (1887–1912) Karl Taylor Compton was born in ...

, who also attended."Ship Is Named 'MIT Victory'". (11 May 1945). ''The Tech'', Volume LXV, No. 16, pp. 1
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/ref> She was completed on 5 June 1945, 74 days after being laid down. ''M. I. T. Victorys library was donated by MIT through the American Merchant Marine Library Association. While bringing back G.I.s from Europe after World War II, the ship published a mimeographed newspaper, ''Tech Times'', for those on board."MIT Victory's Paper Published On The High Seas". (Dec. 7, 1945). ''The Tech'', Volume LXV, No. 37, pp. 4
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/ref> One of her more notable passengers was

Mary Jane Keeney Mary Jane Keeney (1898–1969) and her husband Philip Olin Keeney were librarians and charter members of the liberal The Progressive Librarians Council. She worked at the Board of Economic Warfare in Washington D.C. during World War II. In Novemb ...

, a

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

agent involved in the ''Amerasia'' Affair. In March 1946, after working with the Allied Staff on Reparations in Europe, Keeney returned on board ''M. I. T. Victory'' to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Shortly after arriving the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

observed her passing an envelope to

Joseph Bernstein Joseph Bernstein (sometimes spelled I. N. Bernshtein; he, יוס(י)ף נאומוביץ ברנשטיין; russian: Иосиф Наумович Бернштейн; born 18 April 1945) is a Soviet-born Israeli mathematician working at Tel Aviv Univ ...

, which was delivered to

Alexander Trachtenberg Alexander "Alex" Trachtenberg (23 November 1884 – 26 December 1966) was an American publisher of radical political books and pamphlets, founder and manager of International Publishers of New York. He was a longtime activist in the Socialist Part ...

, a communist party official. On 30 August 1946, the ship was transferred to the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and became U. S. Army Transport (USAT) ''M.I.T Victory''. She made her maiden voyage as an Army Transport from New York to

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

, Germany, departing on September 13, 1946, carrying troops to Europe. A hurricane was encountered en route and the trip took 13 days. She was later renamed to USAT ''Lt.'' '' Alexander R. Nininger'',"Ships Descriptions - M"
. (22 May 2006). ''The Ships List''. Retrieved 7 June 2006 using the Army practice of naming their vessels after

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

winners.

Fate

On 16 September 1949, 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

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. The Army transferred title to the

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, 195 ...

on 8 December 1949. On 31 October 1969 she was transferred to

James River, Virginia 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 ...

. On 16 July 1974, she was sold for $555,100 to Sparreboom Shipbrokers for scrapping. At 1030 EDT, on 23 August 1974 she was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet and sent to the breaker's yard in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

.Finch, Ted (Mar. 19, 2003)
"lt. alexander r. nininger ship m.i.t.victory."
''The ShipsList-L''

Artifacts

The christening bottle for the ''M. I. T. Victory'' is in the MIT Historical Collection."MIT's photograph album is getting bigger". (Feb. 26, 1974). ''The Tech'', Volume 94, No. 6, pp.
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/ref> The brass builder's plate was likely removed by

MARAD Marad (Sumerian: Marda, modern Tell Wannat es-Sadum or Tell as-Sadoum, Iraq) was an ancient Near Eastern city. Marad was situated on the west bank of the then western branch of the Upper Euphrates River west of Nippur in modern-day Iraq and roug ...

, but has not bee
cataloged
as of this writing.

External links

Photo of USAT ''MIT Victory''
on the Naval Armed Guards site.

MARAD Data on ''MIT Victory/Nininger''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:M. I. T. Victory World War II merchant ships of the United States 1945 ships Victory ships Massachusetts Institute of Technology Troop ships of the United States