SS United Victory

Typical Victory ship
History
United States
Name	SS United Victory
Owner	War Shipping Administration
Operator	American President Lines
Builder	Oregon Shipbuilding Company Portland
Laid down	19 November 1943
Launched	12 January 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. Thomas Back, wife of the president of Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, which campaigned to get Victory ships into production
Christened	12 January 1944
Completed	28 February 1944
In service	March 1944
Fate	sold to Furness Withy 1946
United Kingdom
Name	SS Khedive Ismail
Operator	Khedivial Mail S.S. Company
Route	Alexandria – New York City
Maiden voyage	15 March 1948
Renamed	Cleopatra 1956
Identification	IMO number: 5075945
Egypt
Acquired	United Arab Maritime Company 1961
Identification	IMO number: 5075945
Fate	Scrapped 1981
General characteristics
Class and type	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage	7612 GRT, 4,553 NRT
Displacement	15,200 tons
Length	455 ft (139 m)
Beam	62 ft (19 m)
Draught	28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power	8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion	HP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller
Speed	16.5 knots
Boats & landing craft carried	4 Lifeboats
Complement	62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament	1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon
Notes

The SS United Victory was the first of 531 Victory ships built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation on 12 January 1944, completed on 28 February 1944, and had her maiden voyage a month later. The ship's United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 85. The Maritime Commission turned her over to a civilian contractor, the American President Lines, for operation until the end of hostilities.

World War II

During World War II she served in the Pacific War, participating in the battle of Okinawa from 10 April 1945 to 19 April 1945. She used her deck guns to defend against attacking kamikaze aircraft while providing logistics support for the invasion of Okinawa. Some of the United States Navy Armed Guards were wounded when the ship was damaged on 16 April 1945, but there was no loss of life.

Postwar service

United Victory was purchased by Furness Withy in 1946 and renamed Khedive Ismail after Isma'il Pasha. After refitting as an 8196-GRT 78-passenger cargo liner, she began service between Alexandria and New York City on 15 March 1948. She was renamed Cleopatra in 1956, but service to New York ended when she was nationalized by the United Arab Maritime Company in 1961. She was acquired by the Egyptian Navigation Company in 1974, and scrapped at the Gadani ship-breaking yard in 1981.

Honors

Crew of Naval Armed Guard on the SS United Victory' earned "Battle Stars" in World War II for war action during the assault occupation of Okinawa from 10 April 1945 to 19 April 1945. She used her deck guns to defend herself and other ship in action.

Sources

• Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the 'Victory' type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
• United States Maritime Commission: [1]
• Victory Cargo Ships [2] Archived 22 September 2005 at the Wayback Machine