Posted by Chris Thompson on September 27, 2020, 5:48 pm
Hi I have been doing research about my Great Uncle John Huerter he served as an armed guard aboard the S.S. Nira Luckenbach and The S.S.Booker T Washington.His daughter tells me he was on a 3rd Liberty ship called the S.S. A.J. McKinsey but I can find no ship by this name.I am wondering if anyone knows about this ship or a similarly named ship.
Re: Liberty ships
Posted by Ron Carlson on October 8, 2020, 9:31 pm, in reply to "Liberty ships" Edited by board administrator October 8, 2020, 9:45 pm
Chris,
Thanks for your inquiry. I believe the name of the third ship may be KENNETH A. J. MACKENZIE. That name comes pretty close to what you have. I can find no evidence of a ship with even a partial name of McKinsey.
The namesake of the ship, Kenneth A. J. MacKenzie (1797-1861), was a fur trader and merchant who organized the Columbia Fur Company in 1822. He was active in the upper Missouri River fur trade.
The U.S. Maritime Commission named most Liberty ships after deceased persons who had some significant role in the history of North America in general or of the U.S. in particular. (BOOKER T. WASHINGTON is a perfect example.) But with more than 2,700 Liberty ships to name, you can see that the Commission had to dig deep to find some worthy names.
(Anecdotally, during the Liberty shipbuilding program, some individuals contacted the Maritime Commission to volunteer the name of a relative or friend, or even their own name, as befitting having a ship carry that name. Informed that the namesake had to be deceased, they quickly withdrew their suggestions. In other cases, individuals contacted the Commission to thank or criticize the Commission for naming a ship after them. They were politely told that, sorry, the ship was actually named after someone of the same name who was, um, more famous than you -- and deceased.)
Incidentally, NIRA LUCKENBACH was not a Liberty ship. This was a ship built in 1919 as part of a World War I shipbuilding effort, although she was too late for that war. (The first Liberty ship was built in 1941.) She was a so-called Hog Islander ship, named after the Hog Island shipyard near Philadelphia where the ship was constructed. Hog Islanders were notable as being the first ships built in an assembly-line manner, with much of each ship being prefabricated. Many Hog Islanders were active in World War II -- at least 50 were lost in the war -- despite being near the end of their useful lives by then. The ship in question was built with a different original name, was renamed at least once, maybe twice, before becoming NIRA LUCKENBACH in 1940. She survived the war, was renamed once more, and was scrapped in 1953. (See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/aisc.htm and scroll to hull number 1492.) While so named, NIRA LUCKENBACH was owned by the Luckenbach Steamship Company, which gave most of its ships a Luckenbach last name. The ship apparently was named not for some member of the Luckenbach family as you might think but rather for Lady Nira, which was the name of a horse owned by the owner of the company.
And now you know a whole lot more than you expected.
Best wishes.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Re: Liberty ships
Posted by Chris Thompson on October 9, 2020, 2:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Liberty ships"
Thank you so much for the information! I actually did happen to know about the Luckenbach and its history, but I had no idea about the Kenneth A.J. Mackenzie. It all makes a lot more sense now. I was also wondering if there is any accurate way to know where a Liberty ship was at a certain time during the war. If not, then thank you for the help and knowledge anyway.
Re: Liberty ships
Posted by Ron Carlson on October 11, 2020, 5:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Liberty ships"
Chris,
To find the whereabouts of a World War II-era merchant ship (not just Liberty ships), see the excellent ConvoyWeb website (https://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html) and perform a "SHIP SEARCH" for KENNETH A J MACKENZIE. I did so and found the ship in six convoys in February, March and April 1945, between ports in New Guinea and the Philippines. Since KENNETH A J MACKENZIE was constructed in 1943, that leaves a considerable amount of time unaccounted for. So at the bottom of the list of convoys in which the ship operated there is another link, "To continue the search for OTHER voyages of KENNETH A J MACKENZIE, click here." Following that link will provide a chronological list of the ship's whereabouts throughout its wartime career, including times that the ship sailed independently, i.e., not in convoy and without escort. That list should be more or less comprehensive. March up when your great-uncle served in the ship with that list and you will know where he was during that period.
ConvoyWeb will show the originating and destination ports of a given voyage, inclusive dates, the convoy number if a convoy was involved, and on rare occasion what cargo the ship carried or other notes of interest. There will be no information about the crew.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Re: Liberty ships
Posted by Jim Lowell on February 17, 2021, 6:41 pm, in reply to "Re: Liberty ships"
Hi Ron, You are so well read and understand the Liberty Ships and where to locate. How are you at "Victory Ships' Logs"? Maybe you can direct me as I posted a note yesterday and read your research that you did on Chris' behalf. Any suggestions and thank you for what you do! Regards, Jim Lowell