From the Feb. 18, 2013, Southeast Missourian.
From the Nov. 8, 1943 Southeast Missourian which had a picture of te launch of the SS Cape Girardeau, a cargo and passenger ship launched on a Sunday in Wilmington, California, by the Consolidated Steel Corporation. the event was witnessed by 25,000 shipbuilders, employers and former residents of Cape Girardeau. It was 417 feet long and weighed 12,900 tons.
Wikipedia
The SS Cape Girardeau was a Type C1-S-AY-1 Infantry Landing Ship chartered by the British Ministry of War during World War II. It had been completed as the SS Empire Spearhead in 1944. In June 1944, it was transferred to the Royal Navy and took part in Operation Overlord.
In 1947, it was returned to the U.S. Maritime Commission and renamed the Cape Girardeau. In 1950, it was laid up in the James River and renamed the Empire Spearhead before being scrapped in 1966.
The name Cape Girardeau came because Mrs. Bergland of the company office wanted a ship named after her home city. Cape Girardeau is the only inland cape in the U.S.. Then the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce got the names of more than 200 former residents in the Los Angeles area and sent them invitations.
How sweet. --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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