Voyages of the Liberty's

      

                    Voyage Of The Liberty's
                                                          
                                                                      ( Amended )
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                                         SS Robert George Harper
                          5 May 1943 ----- 21 December 1943

     January 22, 1942, the keel was laid on the SS Robert George Harper, hull # 0234.  She was Launched March 22, 1942, and completed ready for sea in April, 1942.  She was named for a congressman from South Carolina who served in congress from 1795 - 1801.  Her radio call letters were KEVO.
     Anchored in San Francisco, Dad reported aboard May 5, 1943, and the ship set sail May 10th for Port Heuneme in Santa Barbara, Ca. where loading was completed, they then sailed for Nandi Bay in the Fiji Islands on May 20th. The AGC officers report states that the ship averaged 10.73 knots and arrived in Nandi Bay on June 11, 1943 - " no enemy contact ", signed LTJG Donald I. Bailey.
     When the crew was not training, they were provided with various things to entertain themselves.  A Port Director Material Report list the following items for the recreation and welfare of the AGC crew: 2 pair boxing gloves, one set horseshoes, Chinese checkers, one sack of marbles, a cribbage board, an acey duecy game, Dominoes, several decks of playing cards, a phonograph with records, a medicine ball and a set of books for men at sea.  Having been aboard ship I have to scratch my head about the horse shoes and sack of marbles but then if a sailor can walk on a ship's deck in a rolling sea I guess he can figure out how to play a game of marbles on the same deck - and I do remember Dad was a pretty good horseshoe player.  Guess he learned in the Navy.
     A June crew roster lists Dad as a loader for the 20mm gun.
     The AGC officers report of 16 July 1943 states that on 25 June they departed Lautouka, Vitu Levu, Fiji and sailed for San Francisco where they arrived July 16th, " no enemy contact ". The report also states that two men who had picked up VD in the states were removed from the ship prior to leaving Fiji.
     The ship took on cargo in San Francisco and departed for San Diego, Ca., arriving there July 27th, they took on more cargo and departed for Noumea, New Caledonia July 30th.  Engine trouble developed August 21st and after stopping at sea to fix the problem they pulled in to the port of Suva, Fiji to make full repairs.  They departed Suva August 23 and arrived Noumea on the 27th.  After unloading, the ship departed New Caledonia for San Francisco on September 5th.  Averaging 10.74 knots they arrived stateside September 28th " no enemy contact ".
     The ship took on cargo in Oakland, Ca. and a new AGC crew except Dad who stayed aboard. They departed Oakland October 22 and sailed to Espiritu Santo an island in the New Hebrides.  They arrived November 13th " no enemy contact " as reported by LTJG C.F. Grossman.  After unloading they departed November 25th and arrived San Francisco, Ca. December 17th, 1943. Speed was 10.5 knots.

     The Fiji Islands were going to be the next target for Japan as it was on the supply route to Australia but the battle of Midway put a hurting on the Japanese and they didn't have the forces to put the plan into action.  The allies established an air base at Nadi and a Naval base at Nandi Bay.  There was another Naval base at Suva.  I could not find where there was any enemy action in the Fiji Islands during the war.
     Noumea, New Caledonia was a major supply port on the route to Australia and was occupied by allied troops in March 1942.  I could not find reports of enemy action in New Caledonia.
     Espiritu Santos is an island in the New Hebrides group of islands.  While there was no enemy action that took place during the war Espiritu Santo was considered a strategic forward base as it was a little over 500 miles from Guadal Canal.

     After the war, like a lot of Liberty ships, the Robert G. Harper was sold and continued to sail the oceans of the world until she was scrapped in 1970 in Taiwan.  Her name was changed in 1947 to the St Croix and she flew the Danish Flag.  In 1951 her name was again changed to the Marna and flew the Panamanian flag. While still flying the Panamanian flag in 1954 her name changed again to the Astron.  In 1962 she was known as the Uranos and flew a Greek flag and in 1966 she was called the Great Peace and sailed under the Liberian flag until she was sold to Taiwan in 1968 and scrapped.

     I could not find indication that Dad saw any enemy action while serving aboard the SS Robert George Harper.

                               

    

     
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                                            SS John H. Rosseter
                                             
                                            13 January 1944 ------ 11 December 1944

     June 2,1943, the keel was laid for hull# 1580.  She was launched 22 days later and towed away for rigging.  In July she was completed and ready for sea under the name John H Rosseter.  She was named for the director of operations for the war shipping board in WWI.
     Dad reported aboard January 13, 1944.  According to the previous AGC Officers reports the ship had been involved in air attacks in New Guinea in November 1943.  For the next 11 months Dad would be sailing into and out of the New Guinea area.
     Around January 18 the ship left San Francisco and sailed to Milne Bay, Papua, New Guinea.  They arrived February 16.  Over the next few weeks they were in the ports of Langemak and Saidor.
     The last part of March they dropped anchor in Cape Gloucester on the island of New Britain.  My research tells me that the Allies were engaged in battle with the enemy for Cape Gloucester from December 1943 until sometime in April of 1944.  The AGC Officers report dated 14 April 1944 included a Notification of the Death of Seaman Frank Knapp who was killed in an explosion on March 30, 1944, at Cape Gloucester, New Britain.  He was buried in the local military cemetery in Grave 355. His death was in the line of duty.
     The AGC officers reports for the time Dad spent aboard the John H Rosseter were very disappointing.  There were only five entries found for the period of January 1944 thru December 1944 and they were not very informative.
     April 12th the ship arrived in Lae, Papua , New Guinea then back to Langemak then back to Lae. The month of May found them in Langemak and Oro Bay and in June back again to Langemak and Oro Bay.  July was spent in Oro Bay, Langemak and Humboldt, Hollandia where a battle was in the mopping up stage. They finished up July in Langemak, Milne Bay and Townsville, Australia.
     According to the ship movement cards they stayed in Townsville until September 3rd then sailed to Cairns just up the coast, then back to Milne Bay and Hollandia. Sometime in late September they sailed to an island north of New Guinea called Biak where fighting had recently finished then back to Hollandia and on to Finschhafen and Langemak, New Guinea.
     Sometime in early November the ship sailed back to San Francisco and Dad left the ship in San Pedro in December 1944.
 

     The big island of New Guinea was split in half.  The eastern half was called Papua New Guinea and the western half was called Dutch New Guinea or Dutch East Indies.  Allied forces started booting the Japanese from the islands in 1943 and fighting continued in many areas until late 1944. The battle for Saidor was not over until 10 Feb 1944.  Hollandia was not recaptured until 30 March 1944 and Cape Gloucester fought on till April.  Even after the areas were considered secured and ground fighting had ended the Japanese continued well into 1945 with attempts to recapture the lost positions by sending bombers overhead to attack shipping and supply depots.
     Although I need more records to prove it, I think enough verifiable information has been found that indicates Dad was involved in enemy action during this voyage on at least one occasion and possibly more often.  All of the ports mentioned were held by the Japanese until U.S. and Australian forces started taking them back in 1943.  The fighting was fierce even after the battle was over in mid 1944 but Japanese forces continued to bombard troops and supply areas well into 1945.

     While researching WWII action for the island of Biak, I read a story from an Australian soldier who, after the battle was over, wandered around the Japanese base.  He walked into the PX and discovered dozens of pairs of ice skates.  Keep in mind that Biak is located maybe 150 miles south of the equator and here are all of these ice skates.  During interrogation of the prisoners, it was learned that the Japanese officers told the soldiers they were actually on an island just off the coast of San Francisco, CA. and they were going to invade at any time.  The ice skates were to be used for recreation after the successful invasion.


     As for the SS John H Rosseter, it appears that she continued sailing under a US flag until 1966 when she was scrapped in Tacoma, WA.


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                                                     SS Cape Archway

                                                     16 January 1945 ----- 13 April 1945


     Of the four ships Dad sailed on, the Cape Archway is the only ship believed to be a Victory ship. She is the only one of which I could find very little information about.  I know she was one of forty-nine built by the Consolidated Steel Corp of Wilmington, CA.  Her radio call letters were KWOD. Beyond that my computer skills petered out.
     Dad reported January 16, 1945 and around the 18th the ship departed for San Pedro, CA. to take on cargo.  February 1st the ship departed for Melbourne, Australia and arrived there on the 22nd of the month.  Two days later the ship set sail for Calcutta, India.  Along the way the ship was challenged by an allied B-24 bomber on patrol. The ship arrived in Calcutta on the 13th of March. Three days later they departed for Colombo, Ceylon ( now known as Sri Lanka ) and after just one day in port they set sail for Sydney, Australia, arriving there April 9, 1945.
     LTJG W.B. Leighton didn't write too many Voyage reports but when he did he seemed to complain about the condition of the guns (they were worn out) and the need for a refrigerator and electric fan for the crew (which he received).
     In Sydney the AGC crew was rotated off the ship on April 13th.  Dad went to his next assignment.
     While this was the shortest voyage time wise it was not necessarily short in the distance traveled. In just under three months the Cape Archway traveled some 19,077.64 statute miles or 16,581.8 nautical miles at a top speed of about 15 miles per hour if they ran at top speed.
  

     Although Melbourne and Sydney were never attacked, Colombo and Calcutta were both targets of the Japanese bombers throughout the war.  Calcutta was the center for supplies and personnel fighting in the China / Burma theater.  Colombo was the seat of the Southeast Asia Command and a major supplier of raw rubber.  Several major air battles were fought there.

     I can't find any information about the Cape Archway after the war.

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       Update, further discoveries on the internet have produced information about the Cape Archway. There were several types of cargo ships built during the war, Liberty ships, Victory ships and types C1, C2, C3 and C4. The Cape Archway was a C1-B not a Victory ship, she was 417.75 ft. in length, 6750 gross tons and had a top speed of 14 knots ( about 16 mph ) from her 4,000 hp. engine. Both the C1-A and C1-B had the word " Cape " in it's name. there were 95 of these ships built.
     At the end of the war, she joined the Hawaiian American Line, March 31, 1944 and was manned by crews from that company. In 1949 she was sold to a private concern presumably the Hawaiian American Line as a permanent asset and sailed the oceans until 1974.



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                                                   SS Charles Lumis
                                                 

                                                   13 April 1945 ----- 24 October 1945

     The keel for Hull # 1649 was laid on 13 April 1943.  She was launched on May the 5th and completed ready for sea later in the month. The Charles Lumis was named for a journalist /author who wrote of the New Mexico Indians at the turn of the century.  The Charles Lumis was listed as a troop ship.
      April 17, 1945 found the ship in Sydney, Australia.  The AGC crew was rotated off and Dad reported aboard with the new crew and the ship quickly departed for Cairns just up the coast.  After a week the ship was dispatched to Biak island arriving there on the 6th of May.  A quick turnaround put them back to sea where they arrived at Morotai Island in the Netherlands East Indies.  From there they shipped out to Leyte Island in the Philippines Island, arriving there about the 20th of May and then on to Tocloban and Manila. The voyage report for this time frame shows " no enemy contact ".
     From Manila the ship sailed to Eniwetok island in the Marshal Islands then on to San Pedro, CA. Arriving there June 29th.  According to LT. W.H. Zimerman, the voyage was uneventful " no enemy contact ".
     The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945, the official " Formal Surrender " took place in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.  The war was over.
     There was still a need for supplies so on August 23rd the ship left San Pedro headed for Pearl Harbor at a top speed of 11.9 knots.  After a couple of days in Pearl Harbor it was off again to Eniwetok to arrive by the 13th of September then Manila by the 23rd.  After waiting to be offloaded and rerouted they departed the 20th of October sailing to Tocloban where the ship was put into a maintenance status on the 24th of October 1945 and all AGC personnel were removed.
     In less than a month Dad was in Memphis, TN arriving there on the 28th of November and Honorably discharged from the Navy as of December 8, 1945.  His Navy career was over.


     Prior to Dad being assigned to the Charles Lumis it was awarded a battle star for it's participation in the battle for Leyte Gulf, 19 Nov 1944 / 29 Nov 1944.  As far as I know, the SS Charles Lumis continued to sail under the US flag until it was scrapped in Portland, OR. in 1965.



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            Why IS A Ship Called A SHE

       A SHIP IS CALLED A SHE BECAUSE THERE IS ALWAYS A GREAT DEAL OF BUSTLE AROUND HER.
       THERE IS USUALLY A GANG OF MEN ABOUT.
       SHE HAS A WAIST AND STAYS.
       IT TAKES A LOT OF PAINT TO KEEP HER GOOD LOOKING.
       IT IS NOT THE INITIAL EXPENSE THAT BREAKS YOU, IT'S THE UPKEEP.
       SHE CAN BE ALL DECKED OUT.
       IT TAKES AN EXPERIENCED MAN TO HANDLE HER CORRECTLY.
       AND WITHOUT A MAN AT THE HELM, SHE IS ABSOLUTELY UNCONTROLLABLE.
      SHE SHOWS HER TOPSIDES, HIDES HER BOTTOM WHEN COMING INTO PORT, ALWAYS FOR THE BUOYS.
     
     During my search I found several sites that discussed Liberty ships and I found that some of the info was contradicting  especially the speed, most sites stated that top speed was 11 knots which is pretty slow (about 12.661 mph), one knot is equal to 1.151 mph. The newer Victory ships were supposedly faster by about three knots.
        Liberty ships were built with a 5 year life span in mind.  About 2000 survived the war and continued to sail the oceans of the world well into the seventies.  Many had their name changed several times and sailed under many flags.  I didn't realize it at the time but when I was in the Navy during the late 1960's I saw Liberty ships in every port.  They were streaked with rust stains flowing from flaking slabs of rust, the pride with which they were built had disappeared long ago only to be over taken by neglect.  There are only two left now as museums.  Those ships not lost to storms at sea fell into disrepair after years of hard work and little care, they were cut up and sold for scrap in various ports around the world.  Like many of the men who sailed on them during war time, their days of glory are memories of a generation quickly passing into history with the hopes that someone will remember them.