Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier Liberty ships. Liberty ships were designed to be used solely for World War II, while Victory ships were designed to last longer and serve the US Navy after the war. The Victory ship differed from a Liberty ship in that they were faster, longer, wider, and taller, had a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure and had a long raised forecastle.
SS Luxembourg Victory survived a typhoon in June 1944 on her maiden trip. Along with SS Mayfield Victory, she serviced the tank landing ships USS LST-865 and USS LST-868 in July 1944 at Buckner Bay.[3] She supplied cargo for the Battle of Guam from July 21 to August 10, 1944.[4]Luxembourg Victory survived her second typhoon in December 1944. At the Battle of Leyte, Luxembourg Victory used her deck guns to fire at enemy planes on November 12 and 24, 1944 to defend both herself and other ships. She was at Leyte for 33 days and had 156 air alerts.[5][6]Luxembourg Victory took supplies to support the troops at the Battle of Okinawa from April 1 to June 22, 1945. She had repair work at sea after the Battle of Okinawa on July 1, 1945.[7][8] After ending her World War II service, Luxembourg Victory steamed from Apra Harbor, Guam to Portland, Oregon, arriving on August 27, 1947.
Luxemburg Victory earned Battle Stars for her combat action, from November 5 to November 29, 1944, in supporting of the Leyte landings.
Private use
In 1951 she was sold to the States Steamship Company of Tacoma, Washington and renamed SS Pennsylvania.[11]
On January 9, 1952, Pennsylvania departed Puget Sound loaded with $1.445 million worth of wheat for Japan. While she was entering the North Pacific off Cape Flattery, off of the northern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada, she battled gale winds up to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) and very rough seas. At about 450 miles (390 nmi; 720 km) west of Cape Flattery, her hull started to crack. She suffered a 14-foot-long (4.3 m) hull crack on her port side. Her engine room was flooding and she had a heavy angle of list. The 45-foot (14 m) seas pounded her into the night. Captain George P. Plover send out a SOSdistress message and gave the abandon ship order at 51.09N 141.13W on January 9, 1952.[11]
The 45-man crew lowered and boarded the four 26-foot (7.9 m) lifeboats in 40-foot (12 m) waves, while the abandoned ship sank. About 75 miles (65 nmi; 121 km) southwest of their position, the Japanese ship SS Kimikawa Maru had received the SOS distress message and arrived at about 10 am on January 10, 1952. She found only overturned lifeboats and debris from the ship. Planes from McChord Air Force Base, the US Coast Guard, the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station and ships from the Royal Canadian Navy arrived to search for survivors. The vast search was run by the 13th Coast Guard District Headquarters in Seattle and covered 11,000 square miles (28,000 km2) of sea. The search was eventually ended with no survivors found.
Pennsylvania hull crack was similar to the structural failures, which had been a problem with other World War II welded steel ships. However, the problem was more noted in older Liberty ships, not Victory ships.
Court cases and new laws over Pennsylvania sinking continued for 22 years after the disaster.[15][16][17][18][19]
Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the 'Victory' type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
