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Groote Beer in New Zealand, c. 1950s
History
United States
Name	Costa Rica Victory
Namesake	Republic of Costa Rica
Builder	Permanente No. 1 yard, Richmond, California
Laid down	22 March 1944
Launched	17 June 1944
Completed	21 August 1944
Fate	Sold to the Netherlands, 1947
Netherlands
Name	Groote Beer
Operator	Dutch Government Holland America Line
Acquired	19 February 1947
Renamed	Marianna IV
Fate	Sold to John Spyridon Latsis, later Scrapped in 1971
Notes	Rebuilt as emigrant passenger ship
General characteristics (as constructed)
Type	Victory ship
Tonnage	7,200 GRT 4,300 NRT 10,600 long tons (10,770 t) deadweight
Displacement	15,200 long tons (15,444 t) (at 28-foot draft)
Length	455 ft (139 m)
Beam	62 ft (19 m)
Draft	28 ft (8.5 m)
Depth of hold	38 ft (12 m)
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)

Groote Beer, originally the Victory ship Costa Rica Victory, was laid down on 22 March 1944, at the Permanente No. 1 yard at Richmond, California, and launched on 17 June 1944.

Costa Rica Victory

Costa Rica Victory was used as troopship near the end of World War II operated by the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. The ship’s United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number P No. 1 (1019), Victory #529. The Maritime Commission turned her over to a civilian contractor for operation. Victory ships were designed to replace the earlier Liberty Ships. Liberty ships were designed to be used just for WW2. 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, with a thinner stack set farther toward the superstructure and had a long raised forecastle. Costa Rica Victory and 96 other Victory ships were converted to troop ships to bring the US soldiers home as part of Operation Magic Carpet. These ships have accommodation for up to 1,600 troops, with fully ventilated and heated rooms. Many had troop warm bunks, a hospital, galleys, washrooms and public rooms. Costa Rica Victory duties were short-lived as the war came to an end. On 17 May 1945, the work started to convert Costa Rica Victory to a troopship. On 11 February 1945, Costa Rica Victor arrived in New York from Europe, with troops. On 13 July 1945, she departed Le Havre, France, for New York, with troops including the 13th Airborne Division. On 27 September 1945, she departed Southampton, England, and arrived 5 October 1945, in New York. Another trip was from Marseilles, France, to New York, through the Straits of Gibraltar.

Groote Beer

Costa Rica Victory was sold for $1,005,431, to the Netherlands Government (nl) on 19 February 1947. She was used as a Dutch emigrant ship after World War II. The ship was rebuilt in 1952, to accommodate approximately 800 passengers in a single class, with large dormitories outnumbering conventional cabins. Groote Beer made regular stops at Halifax's Pier 21 in Nova Scotia, Canada, between 1948 and 1961. Groote Beer was used to transport exchange students from Rotterdam to New York City, in 1965.

Groote Beer averaged 13 voyages to North America during her years of service as an emigrant ship. Voyages were also made to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In 1960, Groote Beer was transferred to the Trans-Ocean Steamship Co and in 1963, was sold to John Spyridon Latsis, Greece, and renamed the Marianna IV.

Marianna IV continued in service until July 1966, when it collided with the sand dredger Pen Avon off the Isle of Wight, while leaving Southampton, on a voyage to New York. The voyage was cancelled and the ship went to Piraeus, where she was laid up and finally scrapped in June 1970, at Eleusis, Greece.

References

1. Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
2. ^ Culver, John A., CAPT USNR "A time for Victories" United States Naval Institute Proceedings February 1977 pp. 50-56
3. "Victory Ships". shipbuildinghistory.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-23. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
4. shipbuildinghistory.com Merchantships Victory ships
5. Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, By John Killen on December 11, 2014
6. shipbuildinghistory.com, Victory Ships list
7. US Maritime Commission 1947 sales
8. ww2troopships.com crossings in 1945
9. "Troop Ship of World War II, April 1947, Page 356-357" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
10. Our Troop Ships
11. Forty-Five Letters from a World War II Sailor, By Edited by Robert W. Bradshaw
12. History of the 13th Airborne Division
13. Military History 633rd AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion
14. ancestry.com, Felix Christian Johnson Rykken
15. Rootweb, three Dutch Ships that brought so many to South African shores
16. Three converted Victory-class troop ships closely tied to mass transportation of Dutch immigrants, Ships symbols of successful resettlement
17. van Kuilenburg family genealogy
18. Chandris Liners and Celebrity Cruises by Peter Plowman

External links

• Hugo's Groote Beer page
• ssMaritime: Dutch Victory Ships
• 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 2005-09-22 at the Wayback Machine

• Victory ships
• Ships built in Richmond, California
• 1944 ships
• Troop ships of the United States