VC2 Design
One of the first acts of the United States War Shipping Administration upon its formation in February 1942 was to commission the design of what came to be known as the Victory class. Initially designated EC2-S-AP1, where EC2 = Emergency Cargo, type 2 (Load Waterline Length between 400 and 450 feet), S = steam propulsion with one propeller (EC2-S-C1 had been the designation of the Liberty ship design), it was changed to VC2-S-AP1 before the name "Victory Ship" was officially adopted on 28 April 1943.
The design was an enhancement of the Liberty ship, which had been successfully produced in extraordinary numbers. Victory ships were slightly larger than Liberty ships, at 455 feet (139 m) long and 62 feet (19 m) wide with 28 feet (7.6 m) draft (loaded). With a fine raked bow and a 'cruiser' stern, to help achieve the higher speed, they had a quite different appearance from Liberty ships.
To make them less vulnerable to U-boat attacks, Victory ships made 15 to 17 knots (28 to 31 km/h), 4 to 6 more than Libertys, and had longer range. The extra speed was achieved through improved engines. Rather than triple expansion steam engines, Victory ships used Lentz type reciprocating steam engines, steam turbines or Diesel engines, variously putting out between 6000 and 8500 horsepower (4.5 and 6 MW). All were oil fired, but for a handful of Canadian vessels completed with both coal bunkers and oil tanks. Another improvement was electrically powered auxiliary equipment, rather than steam-driven.
To prevent hull fracture that dogged some Liberty ships frames were widened 6 inches to 36 inches (914 mm).
The VC2-S-AP2,VC2-S-AP3, and VC2-M-AP4 were armed with a 5 inch (127 mm) stern gun for use against submarines and surface ships, and a bow-mounted 3"/50 caliber gun and eight 20 mm cannon for use against aircraft. These were manned by United States Navy Armed Guard personnel. The VC2-S-AP5 Haskell-class attack transports were armed with the 5 inch (127 mm) stern gun, one quad 40mm Bofors cannon, four dual 40mm Bofors cannon, and ten single 20mm cannon. The Haskells were operated and crewed exclusively by U.S. Navy personnel.
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