Hi.

A little bit of background on the Belle of the West. She was a type C2 general purpose cargo ship. She was specifically a type C2-S-B1, of which there were 123 built, with a gross weight of 6,230 tons. Not sure which shipyard built the Belle of the West, as the C2-S-B1 was built in three different yards (2 in Calif and one in NJ).

Many of the C2 ships, like the Belle of the West, were named after early Clipper Ships (the Clipper Ship Belle of the West was launched in late 1850's).

As you indicated, there is little info on this ship. Many of the C2's were acquired by the Army and the Navy and renamed during the war, and that was my first thought about the Belle of the West. However, the Armed Guard Web site has several entries for Armed Guards who indicated that they served on the Belle of the West, so she clearly operated as such during (at least) part of the war. The usual reliable sources for information (like www.convoyweb.org) do not contain info on her, so the above is the best info I can provide at this time.

Good luck hunting!

Rick