SS FORT JUPITER was a class T-2 tanker, perhaps the most common of the tankers built for service in World War II. Between 1942 and 1945, four shipyards constructed 533 T-2 tankers.
FORT JUPITER was constructed for the U.S. Maritime Commission by the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania. Her keel was laid April 10, 1945, she was launched July 6, 1945, and was completed on July 31, 1945, 112 days after keel-laying. She was sold to a private shipping company in 1947 and renamed STANMORE before being scrapped in 1960. See http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/sun.htm and scroll to hull number 490.
Presumably your uncle was aboard on the ship's maiden voyage.
For a little more information about FORT JUPITER, including photographs of the ship (as STANMORE), see http://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id605.htm
To learn more about T-2 tankers, although there is no further information about FORT JUPITER than noted above, see http://www.t2tanker.org/.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
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