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Typical Victory Ship.
History
United States
Name	SS Bluefield Victory
Namesake	Bluefield, Virginia and Bluefield, West Virginia
Owner	War Shipping Administration
Operator	Mississippi Shipping Company
Builder	California Shipbuilding Company, Los Angeles
Laid down	March 7, 1944
Launched	May 9, 1944
Completed	June 30, 1944
Fate	Sold, 1951
United States
Name	SS Alaska Bear
Owner	Pacific Far East Line of San Francisco. 1951 to 1957 Trans-Pacific Company of Philadelphia. 1957 to 1960 Long Island Tankers Corporation of Wilmington, Del. 1960 to 1962 Pacific Far East Line of San Francisco. 1962 to 1969
Fate	Sold, 1969
United States
Name	SS Columbia Wolf
Owner	Columbia Steamship Company of San Francisco
Fate	Scrapped in Hong Kong, 1970
General characteristics
Class and type	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage	7612 GRT, 4,553 NRT
Displacement	15,200 tons
Length	455 ft (139 m)
Beam	62 ft (19 m)
Draught	28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power	8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion	HP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller, by Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., Essington
Speed	16.5 knots
Boats & landing craft carried	4 Lifeboats
Complement	62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament	1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun as Victory ship 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon
Notes

The SS Bluefield Victory was the 16th Victory ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the California Shipbuilding Company on May 9, 1944, and completed on June 30, 1944. The ship’s United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2- S- AP3, hull number 15 (V-15). SS Bluefield Victory served in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and was operated by the Mississippi Shipping Company. The 10,500-ton Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier Liberty Ships. Liberty ships were designed to be used just for World War II. 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 and wider, taller, had a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure, and had a long raised forecastle.

Christened

SS Bluefield Victory was christened by Mrs. Monroe Jackson of Oakland, California. The SS Bluefield Victory was launched into the waters of Wilmington, Los Angeles. She was part of a group of 218 Victory Ships were named for American cities. SS Bluefield Victory took part in the Battle of Leyte from June 1944 to January 1945.

World War II

SS Bluefield Victory steamed into the Pacific to bring supplies to the Pacific War troops. On October 20, 1944, the SS Bluefield Victory had the dangerous job of delivering ammunition for troops. The ammunition was for the US Central Philippine Attack Force. Bluefield Victory downed a plane on December 11, 1944 and had a bomb miss her by about 50 feet. She was in a convoy of ships that anchored at Naval Base Kossol Roads in October 1944. Because of her dangerous cargo, she stayed in Kossol Roads away from the main fleet until called on to deliver supplies. The convoy included: ammunition ships: Meridian Victory, SS Iran Victory, SS Bluefield Victory and Kishwaukee. It was escorted by the destroyer escorts: Lovelace, Neuendorf, Thomason, under the command of Comcortdiv Thirty-Seven. She supplied the destroyer USS Fletcher (DD-445) with ammunition on February 20, 1945, at Mangarin Bay In March 1945 the SS Bluefield Victory anchored at the Ulithi atoll and supplied ammunition to a number of ships at the Leyte-Samar Naval Base for the Battle of Leyte and other actions.

Post-war

In 1948 the SS Bluefield Victory was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Mobile, Alabama. In 1950 she was reactivated to take supplies to Korea.

Korean War

SS Bluefield Victory (V-4377, ID 246004) served as Merchant Marine Naval ship supplying goods for the Korean War. She made nine trips to Korea. She help move the 140th Medium Tank Battalion. About 75 percent of the personnel taken to Korea for the Korean War came by the Merchant Marine Ships. SS Bluefield Victory transported goods, mail, food and other supplies. About 90 percent of the cargo was moved by Merchant Marine Naval to the Korea War Zone. SS Bluefield Victory made trips between the US and Korea helping American forces engaged against Communist aggression in South Korea.

Private cargo service

In 1951 she was sold to the Pacific Far East Line of San Francisco. and was renamed the SS Alaska Bear. In 1957 she was sold to the Trans-Pacific Company of Philadelphia and kept her name. On June 7, 1957, the SS Alaska Bear ran aground and was taking on water near the entrance to Tokyo Bay. The USS Current, a rescue and salvage ship came to her aid, and pumped water out of flooded cargo holds. They unload the cargo and then towed the Alaska Bear to deeper water. The USS Current worked on her for days. Then towed her to the Port of Yokosuka at Yokohama, Japan on June 21, 1957. In 1960 she was sold and kept her name to the Long Island Tankers Corporation of Wilmington, Delaware In 1962 she was sold back to the Pacific Far East Line of San Francisco and kept her name. In 1969 she was sold to the Columbia Steamship Company of San Francisco and renamed the SS Columbia Wolf. In 1970 she was towed to Hong Kong and scrapped.

See also

• List of Victory ships
• Liberty ship
• Type C1 ship
• Type C2 ship
• Type C3 ship

References

1. Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
2. National parks, Reading 2: Victory Ships Archived January 1, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
3. /shipbuildinghistory.com, Victory ships Archived December 25, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
4. May 10, 1944, Long Beach Independent from Long Beach, California · Page 14
5. armed-guard.com, photo of the SS Bluefield Victory Archived July 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
6. Leyte, June 1944 - January 1945 By Samuel Eliot Morison, page 83
7. Rep of Ops in the Philippine Is Area 10/24-28/44
8. US Central Philippine Attack Force, 20 October 1944
9. Chapter XX, The Philippines Campaign, Forces and Vessels--Logistic Support of the Seventh Fleet--Battle of Leyte Gulf
10. Naval War College, THE BATTLE FOR LEYTE GULF, OCTOBER 1944 STRATEGICAL AND TACTICAL ANALYSIS, VOL III
11. Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil - The Story of Fleet Logistics Afloat in the, By Rear Adm. Worrall Reed Carter
12. USS Fletcher. 1945 Archived January 20, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
13. Support Activities at Leyte-Samar Service Squadron Ten Main Body Moves to San Pedro Bay--Naval Bases on Leyte-Samar--Reorganization of Service Squadron Ten--Dysentery in Fleet Anchorage--Service Force Pacific Absorbs Service Force Seventh Fleet Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
14. Small United States and United Nations Warships in the Korean War, By Paul M. Edwards, page 173
15. Korean War Educator, Merchant Marine, Accounts of the Korean War
16. Small United States and United Nations Warships in the Korean War, By Paul M. Edwards
17. The History of USS Current 1957- 1972 Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
18. Mariners, The Website Of The Mariners Mailing List., Victory Ships Archived October 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

Sources

• 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.
• United States Maritime Commission:
• Victory Cargo Ships Archived November 10, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

• Victory ships
• Ships built in Los Angeles
• Merchant ships of the United States
• 1944 ships
• World War II merchant ships of the United States