Liberty ladje (angleško: Liberty ships) so bile transportne ladje, ki so jih Američani gradili med 2. svetovno vojno. Uporabljale so se predvsem za transport vojaškega tovora v Britanijo in Sovjetsko zvezo. Koncept ladje je sicer britanski, Američani so ga prevzeli, ker so bile ladje poceni in se jih je dalo hitro graditi.^[1] 18 ameriških ladjedelnic je v letih 1941−1945 zgradilo kar 2710 ladij - daleč največ ladij enega razreda. Ime "Liberty" so izbrali, ker naj bi te ladje pripomogle k svobodi v Evropi in svetu med 2. Svetovno vojno.

Zaradi hitre gradnje so imele nekatere ladje probleme s kakovostjo, 12 ladij se je enostavno prelomilo na pol, druge so imele probleme s krhkim lomom. Predvidena življenjska doba je bila 5 let, vendar je veliko ladij precej preseglo to številko.

Liberty ladje so postale simbol ameriške industrijske moči. Kdaj se tudi uporablja oznaka "Liberty razred" - ladje z nosilnostjo 10000 ton.

Več kot 2400 teh ladij je preživelo vojno. Po njej so jih 835 kupili razni trgovski ladjarji. Grki so kupili 526 ladij, Italijani pa 98. Veliko ladijskih magnatov kot npr. John Fredriksen, John Theodoracopoulos, Aristoteles Onassis, Stavros Niarchos, Stavros George Livanos, bratje Goulandris, Andreadis, Tsavliris, Achille Lauro, Grimaldi in Bottiglieri je začelo svoje posle ravno z Liberty ladjami.

• Razred: Liberty
• Tip: Tovorna ladja
• Graditelj: 18 ladjedelnic v ZDA
• Cena: $2 milijona ($ 34 milijonov leta 2014)
• Število planiranih: 2751
• Število zgrajenih: 2710
• Število ohranjenih: 3

• Izpodriv: 14245 dolgih ton (14474 ton)
• Dolžina: 441 ft 6 in (134,57 m)
• Širina: 56 ft 10,75 in (17,3 m)
• Ugrez: 27 ft 9,25 in (8,5 m)
• Pogon: dva bojlerja; parni motor s trojno ekspanzijo in močjo 2500 KM (1900 kW); en propeler
• Hitrost: 11–11,5 vozlov (20,4–21,3 km/h; 12,7–13,2 mph)
• Doseg: 20000 nmi (37000 km; 23000 mi)
• Nosilnost: 10856 t (10685 dolgih ton) (DWT)
• Posadka: 38–62 USMM

21–40 UGNAG

• Orožje: 4-in (102 mm) top za uporabo proti podmornicam, več protiletalskih topov

• Ladje tipa C1
• Ladje tipa C2
• T2 tanker
• Victory ladje

• Davies, James (2004). »Liberty Cargo Ship« (PDF). ww2ships.com. str. 23. Pridobljeno 25. marca 2008.
• Elphick, Peter. Liberty: The Ships that Won the War. Naval Institute Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59114-451-5
• Lane, Frederic Chapin (2001) [1951]. Ships for Victory: A History of Shipbuilding under the U.S. Maritime Commission in World War II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-6752-1. OCLC 45799004.
• Sawyer, L. A.; W. H. Mitchell (1970). The Liberty Ships: The history of the "emergency" type cargo ships constructed in the United States during World War II. Cambridge, Maryland: Cornell Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-87033-152-7. OCLC 132649.
• Chiles, James R . "THE SHIPS THAT BROKE HITLER’S BLOCKADE: How a crash effort by amateur shipbuilders turned out twenty-seven hundred Liberty freighters in four years" Arhivirano 2008-12-03 na Wayback Machine. Winter 1988, Volume 3, Issue 3. Invention and Technology Magazine at American Heritage
• Herman, Arthur (2012). Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
• Lee, Bill "The Liberty Ships of World War II" An informative 30-page article about the ships, how they were built, and how they were used.
• Wise, James E.; Baron, Scott (2004). Soldiers Lost at Sea: A Chronicle of Troopship Disasters (2004 izd.). United States Naval Institute. ISBN 9781591149668. - Total pages: 280

Wikimedijina zbirka ponuja več predstavnostnega gradiva o temi: Liberty ladje.

(Angleščina)

• [1] SS Jeremiah O'Brien
• Liberty Ships built by the United States Maritime Commission in World War II Arhivirano 2008-05-09 na Wayback Machine.
• Liberty Ships and Victory Ships, America's Lifeline in War Arhivirano 2007-06-11 na Wayback Machine. A lesson on Liberty ships and Victory ships from the National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places.
• Ships for Victory: J.A. Jones Construction Company and Liberty Ships in Brunswick, Georgia Eighty-four black-and-white photographs from the J.A. Jones Construction Company collection at the Brunswick-Glynn County Library that depict the company's World War II cargo ship building activities in its Brunswick, Georgia shipyard from 1943 to 1945.
• Project Liberty Ship – The Shipyards. Arhivirano 2008-05-31 na Wayback Machine.
• Summary of Constance Tipper's work—contains remarkable photo of fractured Liberty ship still afloat.
• Danger presented by the wreck of liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery.
• Shipbuilding under the United States Maritime Commission, 1936 to 1950
• Liberty Ships and World War II – A Role Model.
• Zadnja ladja Liberty: Kaiser (video) Arhivirano 2013-01-19 at Archive.is