Figure 1.--.

The Kriegsmarine and its u-boat arm was assigned the task of cutting Britain off from its Empire and the United States. Had they succeeded, Germany may well have won the War. The goal was o sink more ships than the Allies could build. Part of the American response was to increase ship construction and here the liberty ship wasthe center-piece of the American effort. American industrialist Henry Kaiser played a key role by developing a revolutionary new way of shipbuilding--assembling mass produced parts. Kaiser had never bult a ship before. The unfamiliarity of Kaiser and others with ship building was undoubtedly a factor n their succees in developing an innovative construction system. [Sawyer and Mitchell] More than 30,000 parts were mass produced by factories in 32 states. The modular construction techniques developed changed shipbuilding forever. With American shipyards working flat out to build crtically needed naval vessels, the liberty ship cargo vessels were built in what amounts to virtual shipyards all along the U.S. coast. This allowed the United States begining in 1941 to harness skills, resources, and facilities to an extrodinary degree. The output was almost unbelieveable. Not only were labor requirements to build a ship reduced by to thirds and it was done largely by workers who had never worked in shipyards--many had never even seen the sea before. The first liberty ship protype was built in 244 days. Eventually th proces was reuced to an incredible 42 days. One ship as a publicity exercise was actually built in 4 days and 15 hours. Most of the Liberty yards in 1943 began producing Victory ships, a larger and faster freighter that was to be capable of commercial use after the War. The United States, despite the u-boat offensive finished the War wih a merchant fleet larger than it had begun with. The United States expanded its shipbuilding capacity by more than 1,200 percent. American yards built over 2,700 Liberty Ships, 800 Victory Vessels, 320 T-2 Tankers, and various ships. In all, more than 5,200 ships were built.

Significance

America had a vast industrial capacity. It was much larger than that of Germany. That capacity, however, could not be brought to bear to assist the Allies in 1939-41 or after Pearlm Harbor to pursue the War unless ships could deliver the military equipment and supplies to the fighting fronts. Thus the major limitation was not tproduction, but the merchant cargo vessels to deliver that production as well as American soldiers.

German Naval Strategy

The Kriegsmarine and its u-boat arm was assigned the task of cutting Britain off from its Empire and the United States. Had they succeeded, Germany may well have won the War. The goal was to sink more ships than the Allies could build. For a while the Germans were winning the battle of attrition with the British.

Hurry up Henry

The man who solved the poroblem of delivering American war production was Henry Kaiser, the son of German immigrants. Kaiser was a remarakable individual, the proverbial self-made man. He didn't like to study so he quit school at 13 years of age. He ran a photographic studio for a while. He then made some money as hardwear salkesman. With that he entered the cnstruction business. He then made it big when he bought the patent for an earth mover. He was part of the consirum that built the Hoover Dam during the Depresion. He was also the man who solved one of the central problems of World War II.

Support for Britain

President Roosevelt (FDR) from the outset of World War II in Europe was destermined to assist the Allies. There were major legal limitations to this as well as strong isolationist sentiment led by the American Firsters. Th President confronted themerican Firsters and led a struggle in Congess to change the Neutrality acts to support the Allies. One of the actions taken by FDR as Luftwaffe bombers wee waging the Blitz on London was a pledge to build 60 new mercahnt vessels to replace vessels lot to the u-boats and deliver them to Briytain fullow loaded wih war supplies.

Basic Problem

President Roosevelt's decire to assist Britain was limited by the fact that American shipyards by 1940 were already working at full capaciy, many with building new ships for the Navy. There were no shipyards able to take a contracts to build merchant ships for Nritain.

Mass Produced Ships

Ameriucan industrialist Henry Kaiser along with a partner, Todd Shipping, in Decmber 1940 won the contract to build 60 cargo ships to assist Britain. The Liberty Ship was to be a central part of the American effort to increase ship construction. Kaiser played a key role by developing a revolutionary new way of shipbuilding--assembling mass produced parts. Kaiser had never bult a ship before. The unfamiliarity of Kaiser and others with ship building was undoubtedly a factor n their succees in developing an innovative construction system. [Sawyer and Mitchell] Kaiser's idea was to mass produce ships and he developed the production systm to do just this.

Virtual Shipyards

With American shipyards working flat out to build crtically needed naval vessels, the liberty ship cargo vessels were built in what amounts to virtual shipyards all along the U.S. coast. The first yard was st up at Richmond, California. Other yards were built in Portlan, Oregon, Newportnews, Virginia, and dozens of other sites. Kaiser and Todd set out to build new yard. Estimates suggested it would take at least 6 months to turn the swampy sit into a shipyard. They did it in 3weeks. This allowed the United States begining in 1941 to harness skills, resources, and facilities to an extrodinary degree. The output was almost unbelieveable. Not only were labor requirements to build a ship reduced by to thirds and it was done largely by workers who had never worked in shipyards--many had never even seen the sea before. FDR's initial order of 60 vessels was soon expanded. The President now forsaw tge need for hundreds of new vessel.

The Process

More than 30,000 parts were mass produced by factories in 32 states. The modular construction techniques developed changed shipbuilding forever.

Liberty Ships

The design for a liberty ship was based on the basic design for a tramp British freighter of the 1920s. There were many names for the Liberty Ships. FDR who had a special love for the sea an beautiful ships called them "ugly ducklings". Kaiser saw them as the "Model-T" od the sea, referring to Ford's mass produced cars. Liberty Ships were built with one design, shape, and speed--slow. The name came from FDR's speech in which he reffered to Patrick Henry's speech, "Give me liberty or give me death". Nor suprisinglym the first Libert Ship was the Patrick Henry. On the day the Patrick Henry was launched so wer 13 other Liberty Ships.

Construction Time

The first liberty ship protype was built in 244 days. Eventually the proces was reuced to an incredible 42 days. One ship as a publicity exercise was actually built in 4 days and 15 hours.

Victory Ships

Most of the Liberty yards in 1943 began producing Victory ships, a larger and faster freighter that was to be capable of commercial use after the War.

Escort Carriers

If Kaiser had done nothing more than made theLiberty Ship possible, he would have been a major figure in Woirld War II. He was not, however, content with jusy building merchant cargo vessels no matter how important that was. Kaiser wanted, however, to do even more. There was a desperate need after the Japanese strike on Parl Harbor for aircraft carriers. American shipyards began building the new Essex class carriers. But these large carriers would take months to build and not begin reaching the fleet until 1943. Kaiser came up with the idea of building small 11 small carriers using existing Liberty Ship hulls. He delivered the ships to the Navy in 1942. They were called escort or jeep carriers as well as baby flattops. He also suggested building 50 slightly larger escort carriers using Victory Ship hulls. He suggested this to the Navy, but the admirals focussed on larger carriers rejected the idea. Kaiser was not one to be turned down. He knew FDR personally and took the idea to him. FDR bought the idea of small carriers which could be quikly built. Yhe first of these carriers, the Casablanca was delivered to the Navy on July 8, 1943. The last of the 50 carriers were delivered 365 days later. These carriers carried less than 30 planes, about a third of the Essex class carrier compliment. They played an important role in closing the Mid-Atlantic Air Gap, providing air cover throughout the North Atlantic convoy route. Air cover was the most important weapon against u-boats, and the escort carriers meant that the entire North Atlantic could be covered. The esscort carriers turned the North Atlantic into a grave yard for u-boats. The escort carriers also provided air cover for the lengthy Pacific convoy routes as well as support many combat operations. A group of escort carriers even turned back the Japanese Northern Force, a poweful task force of battleships and crusiers, in the Battle Of Leyte Gulf--the largest navai engagement in history.

Production

The United States, despite the u-boat offensive finished the War wih a merchant fleet larger than it had begun with. The United States expanded its shipbuilding capacity by more than 1,200 percent. American yards built over 2,700 Liberty Ships, 800 Victory Vessels, 320 T-2 Tankers, and various other ships including escort carriers. In all, more than 5,200 ships were built.

Sources

Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell, The Liberty Ships (Lloyd's of London Press, 1985).

Created: May 5, 2003
Last updated: May 5, 2003