Between 1944 and 1945, the NC Shipbuilding Company also made AKA transports, ABC headquarters ships and AE (ammunition) ones. Late in the war, they started building civilian cargo ships: 17 for the Lykes Brothers Line, 19 for the U.S. Line and 9 for the Grace Line.
The Grace Line ships were especially luxurious with refrigerated cargo spaces and accomodations for up to 52 passengers and even a swimming pool. Definitely a far cry from the rather spartan Liberty Ships.
During the course of the war, 28 Wilmington-built ships were lost: twenty-three from enemy action and four sunk to form a break water during the Normandy Invasion. One ammunition ship exploded in the South Pacific.
The most famous of their ships was the SS White Falcon C-2, delivered April 14, 1944. It was later lengthened and refitted as a cargo container ship and then rechristened the SS Mayaguez in 1965.
On May 12, 1973, two weeks after the fall of South Vietnam, it was captured in international waters off Cambodia. On May 15th, USMC forces retook it off Koh Tang Island. This was the first US Navy ship-to-ship boarding since 1826. Fourteen Marines, 2 Navy Corpsmen and two crewmembers were killed or missing. The ship was scrapped in 1979.
More to Come. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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