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42-420: The American Mail Line ran Trans-Pacific Steamship Routes between the main ports of: Seattle, Victoria, Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, and Honolulu. The Dollar Steamship Lines and the main owner of American Mail Line offered passengers joint service routes. In 1938 only service to and from California was offered. Regular service ended in 1938. After 1938 charter shipping was provided, American Mail Line

84-628: A common means of commercial intermodal freight transport . A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Tankers can range in size from several hundred tons , designed to serve small harbours and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, with these being designed for long-range haulage. A wide range of products are carried by tankers, including: Different products require different handling and transport, thus special types of tankers have been built, such as chemical tankers , oil tankers , and gas carriers . Among oil tankers, supertankers were designed for carrying oil around

126-643: A reserve naval auxiliary force in the event of armed conflict which was a duty the U.S. merchant fleet had often filled throughout the years since the Revolutionary War. The second role given to the Maritime Commission was to administer a subsidy system authorized by the Act which would offset the differential cost between both building in the U.S. and operating ships under the American flag. Another function given to

168-546: A smaller fleet of ships called the Ready Reserve Force has been mobilized to support both humanitarian and military missions. The last major shipbuilding project undertaken by the Commission was to oversee the design and construction of the super passenger liner SS  United States , which was intended to be both a symbol of American technological might and maritime predominance but also could be quickly converted into

210-731: Is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo , goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade . Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. A bulk carrier is a ship used to transport bulk cargo items such as iron ore , bauxite, coal, cement, grain and similar cargo. Bulk carriers can be recognized by large box-like hatches on deck, designed to slide outboard or fold fore-and-aft to enable access for loading or discharging cargo. The dimensions of bulk carriers are often determined by

252-563: Is in contrast to pleasure craft , which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships , which are used for military purposes. They come in myriad sizes and shapes, from six-metre (20 ft) inflatable dive boats in Hawaii, to 5,000-passenger casino vessels on the Mississippi River, to tugboats plying New York Harbor , to 300-metre (1,000 ft) oil tankers and container ships at major ports, to passenger-carrying submarines in

294-544: The Caribbean . Many merchant ships operate under a " flag of convenience " from a country other than the home of the vessel's owners, such as Liberia and Panama , which have more favorable maritime laws than other countries. The Greek merchant marine is the largest in the world. Today, the Greek fleet accounts for some 16 per cent of the world's tonnage ; this makes it currently the largest single international merchant fleet in

336-718: The Horn of Africa from the Middle East ; the FSO Knock Nevis being the largest vessel in the world, a ULCC supertanker formerly known as Jahre Viking (Seawise Giant). It has a deadweight of 565,000 metric tons and length of about 458 meters (1,500 ft). The use of such large ships is in fact very unprofitable, due to the inability to operate them at full cargo capacity; hence, the production of supertankers has currently ceased. Today's largest oil tankers in comparison by gross tonnage are TI Europe , TI Asia , TI Oceania , which are

378-473: The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy which had been built and opened during World War II and which continues to be funded and operated today as one of the five Federal Service Academies. Responsibility for U.S. merchant shipping has been held by many agencies since 1917. For a history, see: Merchant ship A merchant ship , merchant vessel , trading vessel , or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This

420-509: The US Navy supplied United States Navy Armed Guards to man the deck guns and radio. The most common armament mounted on these merchant ships were the MK II 20mm Oerlikon autocannon and the 3"/50 , 4"/50 , and 5"/38 deck guns. Operated during World War II: Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that

462-565: The American Mail Line acquired a line of five Type C4-class ship ships, C4-S-1s. Regular Passenger and mail service ships in 1923 and 1936, from the Admiral Oriental Line: Regular service ports of call in 1923 and 1936: Seattle, Seattle, Victoria, Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila. Regular Passenger service ships in started in 1948: (service years) Regular Passenger service ports of call in 1957 for

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504-532: The C2s and C3s were converted to Navy auxiliaries, notably attack cargo ships , attack transports , and escort aircraft carriers and many of the tankers became fleet replenishment oilers . The Commission also was tasked with the construction of many hundred "military type" vessels such as Landing Ship, Tank (LST)s and Tacoma -class frigates (PF)s and large troop transports for the Navy and Army Transportation Corps . By

546-506: The Commission involved the formation of the U.S. Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ship's officers to man the new fleet. The actual licensing of officers and seamen still resided with the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation. President Roosevelt nominated Joseph P. Kennedy first head of the Commission. Kennedy held that position until February 1938 when he left to become US Ambassador to Great Britain. After Kennedy's departure,

588-550: The Merchant Marine Act, the first vessel contracted for was SS  America . Owned by the United States Lines , she briefly operated in the passenger liner and cruise service before being converted into a high-speed transport, per her design. From 1939 through the end of World War II, the Maritime Commission funded and administered the largest and most successful merchant shipbuilding effort in world history. By

630-952: The above: Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Yokohama, Kobe, Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Hong Kong, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Pacific Northwest ports. Regular Passenger service ships starting in 1957: Regular service ports of call in 1957 for the above: Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Yokohama, Kobe, Hong Kong, Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Singapore, Penang, Port Swettenham, Medan, Singapore, Djakarta, Philippine ports, California ports and Pacific Northwest ports. Regular Passenger service ships in started about 1965 with C4 Mariner-class ships : (service years) American Mail Line's five C5-S-75a cargo ship built by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia as break bulk cargo or container ship, with 21,600 shp (16,100 kW) at 15,950 tons, 21.0 knots (38.9 km/h; 24.2 mph). The largest general cargo liners in 1969. The SS Alhambra Victory and others were run by its American Mail Line crew and

672-563: The bulk of the United States Merchant Marine , and to administer a subsidy system authorized by the Act to offset the cost differential between building in the U.S. and operating ships under the American flag. It also formed the United States Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ship's officers to man the new fleet. As a symbol of the rebirth of the U.S. Merchant Marine and Merchant Shipbuilding under

714-548: The chairmanship was assumed by Rear Admiral Emory S. Land , USN (ret.), who had been the head of U.S. Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair prior to his appointment to the Commission on the behest of the President and where he had been a deputy commissioner since the founding of the body. The other four members of the Commission in the years before the beginning of World War II were a mix of retired naval officers and men from disciplines of law and business. The man most notable in

756-599: The end of World War II, both the Emergency and Long Range shipbuilding programs were terminated as there were far too many merchant vessels now for the Nation's peacetime needs. In 1946, the Commission was chaired by Vice admiral William W. Smith and the Merchant Ship Sales Act was passed to sell off a large portion of the ships previously built during the war to commercial buyers, both domestic and foreign. This facilitated

798-444: The end of the war, U.S. shipyards working under Maritime Commission contracts had built a total of 5,777 oceangoing merchant and naval ships and many smaller vessels. A huge postwar contraction followed, with massive sell-offs to foreign militaries and commercial fleets. The last major shipbuilding project undertaken by the Commission was to oversee the design and construction of the super passenger liner SS  United States which

840-463: The end of the war, U.S. shipyards working under Maritime Commission contracts had built a total of 5,777 oceangoing merchant and naval ships. In early 1942 both the training and licensing was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard for administration, but then late in the fall of 1942, the Maritime Service was transferred to the newly created War Shipping Administration which itself was created for

882-507: The first vessel contracted for was SS  America , which was owned by the United States Line and operated in the passenger liner and cruise service during 1940-1. Upon the U.S. entry into World War II, America was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy and became USS  West Point . In the prewar years, several dozen other merchant ships were built for the Commission under its original 500 ship Long Range Shipbuilding Program but it

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924-599: The formerly ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships which are designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all ocean liners were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with cargo holds and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Modern cruiseferries have car decks for lorries as well as

966-468: The group Land brought to the Commission was Commander Howard L. Vickery , USN, who, like Land, was a naval officer closely involved in the construction of new Navy vessels. Vickery became responsible for overseeing the Commission's shipbuilding functions including the design and construction of the ships, developing shipyards to build them and companies to manufacture the complicated and highly specialized ship's machinery. As World War II drew closer, Vickery

1008-750: The largest sailing vessels today. But even with their deadweight of 441,585 metric tons, sailing as VLCC most of the time, they do not use more than 70% of their total capacity. Apart from pipeline transport , tankers are the only method for transporting large quantities of oil, although such tankers have caused large environmental disasters when sinking close to coastal regions, causing oil spills . See Braer , Erika , Exxon Valdez , Prestige and Torrey Canyon for examples of tankers that have been involved in oil spills. Coastal trading vessels are smaller ships that carry any category of cargo along coastal, rather than trans-oceanic, routes. Coasters are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations on

1050-541: The ports and sea routes that they need to serve, and by the maximum width of the Panama Canal. Most lakes are too small to accommodate bulk carriers, but a large fleet of lake freighters has been plying the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway of North America for over a century. A container ship is a cargo ship that carries its cargo in standardized containers, in a technique called containerization . These ships are

1092-611: The purpose of overseeing the operation of the fleet of merchant ships being built by the Emergency Program for the needs of the U.S. Armed Services. The WSA was added to the list of wartime agencies created within the Roosevelt Administration and was intended to relieve the already full plate of responsibilities of the Commission, yet they shared the same Chairman in Admiral Land and so worked very closely together. With

1134-559: The rebuilding of the fleets of both allied nations such as Great Britain, Norway and Greece which had lost a majority of their prewar vessels to the Battles of the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Although not sold outright to nations that were enemies during the war, U.S. merchant ships helped nations such as Japan, which had lost many hundreds of its merchant vessels to the Allies' submarine offensive in

1176-412: The same island or continent. Their shallow hulls allow them to sail over reefs and other submerged navigation hazards, whereas ships designed for blue-water trade usually have much deeper hulls for better seakeeping . A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as

1218-513: The shipyards and joined the ranks of the shipbuilding workforce. From 1939 through the end of World War II, the Maritime Commission funded and administered the largest and most successful merchant shipbuilding effort in world history, producing thousands of ships and other vessels, including Liberty ships , Victory ships , and others, notably Type B barges; Type C1 , Type C2 , Type C3 , and Type C4 freighters; Type R refrigerator ships; T1 , T2 , and T3 tankers , and Type V tugs. Most of

1260-885: The term "Merchant Navy" without further clarification is used to refer to the British Merchant Navy ; the United States merchant fleet is known as the United States Merchant Marine . Merchant ships' names have a prefix to indicate which kind of vessel they are: The UNCTAD review of maritime transport categorizes ships as: oil tankers, bulk (and combination) carriers, general cargo ships, container ships, and "other ships", which includes "liquefied petroleum gas carriers, liquefied natural gas carriers, parcel (chemical) tankers, specialized tankers, reefers, offshore supply, tugs, dredgers, cruise, ferries, other non-cargo". General cargo ships include "multi-purpose and project vessels and Roll-on/roll-off cargo". A cargo ship or freighter

1302-569: The war years. Ships not disposed of through the Ship Sales Act were placed into one of eight National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) sites maintained on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. On several occasions in the postwar years ships in the reserve fleets were activated for both military and humanitarian aid missions. The last major mobilization of the NDRF came during the Vietnam War . Since then,

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1344-508: The western Pacific , recover their merchant shipping capacity via the loan of vessels and the carrying of relief cargoes to war ravaged Europe. Ships were also used in both the rebuilding programs under the Marshall Plan and the transport of food aid sent during the desperate winter of 1945-46 when famine loomed large over much of the European continent. For the next 25 years, in ports all around

1386-409: The world one could find dozens of ships which had been built during the war but which now were used in peace. Many of those same ships continued to sail until the early 1980s but most had been sold for scrap in the 1960s and 1970s as more modern designs were developed and more efficient slow speed diesel engines introduced to replace the steamships which predominated those built by the Commission during

1428-495: The world's fastest naval troop transport. The Maritime Commission was abolished on 24 May 1950, and its functions were divided between the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission which was responsible for regulating shipping trades and trade routes and the United States Maritime Administration , which was responsible for administering the construction and operating subsidy programs, maintaining NDRF, and operating

1470-477: The world, albeit not the largest in history. During wars, merchant ships may be used as auxiliaries to the navies of their respective countries, and are called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel . The term "commercial vessel" is defined by the United States Coast Guard as any vessel (i.e. boat or ship) engaged in commercial trade or that carries passengers for hire. In English,

1512-515: Was active with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration during World War 2 and the Vietnam War . During wartime the American Mail Line operated Victory ships and Liberty ships , also a few Empire ships . After World War 2 American Mail Line started Regular services again with a line of "Mail" Ships. The "Mail ship" China Mail , Island Mail , were a C2-SU design, built by Sun Yards of Chester, Pennsylvania . In 1965

1554-593: Was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 , which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The commission replaced the United States Shipping Board which had existed since World War I . It was intended to formulate a merchant shipbuilding program to design and build five hundred modern merchant cargo ships to replace the World War I vintage vessels that comprised

1596-433: Was intended to be both a symbol of American technological might and maritime predominance but also could be quickly converted into the world's fastest naval troop transport. The Maritime Commission was abolished on 24 May 1950, and its functions were divided between the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission which was responsible for regulating shipping trades and trade routes and the United States Maritime Administration , which

1638-505: Was not until the late fall of 1940 the critical importance of the Commission to the defense of the lifeline to Great Britain and to the national mobilization for war became apparent when the beginnings of the Emergency Shipbuilding program were laid. Together, all the Maritime Commission's shipbuilding program became known as Ships for Victory and great pride was taken in it by the many thousands of ordinary citizens went to work in

1680-439: Was responsible for administering the construction and operating subsidy programs, maintaining NDRF, and operating the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy which had been built and opened during World War II and which continues to be funded as the nation's federally operated maritime academy under 46 USC 310. The purpose of the Maritime Commission was multifold as described in the Merchant Marine Act's Declaration of Policy. The first role

1722-586: Was to formulate a merchant shipbuilding program to design and then have built over a ten-year period 900 modern fast merchant cargo ships which would replace the World War I-vintage vessels which made up the bulk of the U.S. Merchant Marine prior to the Act. Those ships were intended to be chartered (leased) to U.S. shipping companies for their use in the foreign seagoing trades for whom they would be able to offer better and more economical freight services to their clients. The ships were also intended to serve as

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1764-490: Was very much at the forefront of putting into place the Emergency Shipbuilding Program which men like Henry J. Kaiser were so instrumental in developing into an industry which would perform some of the greatest feats of wartime industrial production ever previously witnessed and never since matched. As a symbol of the rebirth of the U.S. Merchant Marine and Merchant Shipbuilding under the Merchant Marine Act,

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