CAPE GEORGIA was a so-called class C1-B cargo ship, built by Consolidated Steel, Wilmington, California, in 1943. She was sold to a private shipping company, Lykes Brothers Steam Ship Company and renamed SHIRLEY LYKES in 1949, retired to the reserve fleet ("mothballed") in 1961, and scrapped in 1972 in Houston. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/consolidatedwilmington.htm and scroll to hull number 339. Also see http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/lykes.shtml and scroll to SHIRLEY LYKES (1).
From what I have been able to find, CAPE GEORGIA operated exclusively in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and may have served, at least for part of her career, as a troop transport.
See http://www.usmm.org/c1ships.html for some information about class C1 cargo ships. See http://drawings.usmaritimecommission.de/drawings_c1.htm for profile drawings of C1 cargo ships; CAPE GEORGIA is listed about half-way down the page.
For sources of photographs of World War II-ear U.S. merchant ships, see this webpage: http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html. The Mariners Museum library in Newport News, Virginia, may be a good bet. Mr. Hultgren, second on the list of sources, probably would not be a useful source in that his collection focuses on Liberty ships, a class different from C1 ships.
Good luck and I hope the above information is useful.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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