USAT Sea Pike
From Our Contribution
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | USAT Sea Pike |
| Owner | US War Shipping Administration |
| Builder | Western Pipe and Steel Corp. San Francisco, California |
| Launched | February 1943 |
| Completed | 13 Feb 1943 |
| In service | 1943 |
| Out of service | 1970 |
| Reclassified | C3 Cargo ship |
| Fate | scrapped in Taiwan |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Liberty Ship |
| Tonnage | 7,985 tons |
| Length | 492 ft (149.96m) |
| Beam | 69 ft 6 in (21.18m) |
| Depth | 28 ft 6 im (8.69m) |
| Propulsion | single screw |
| Speed | 17 knots (31.48 km/h) |
| Capacity | 2,109 troops |
Remarks
C3-S-A2 class ships were the third type of cargo ships designed by the US Marine Commission in the late 1930s, designed to be a general purpose ship that could be modified for specific purposes. Longer and faster than the C2 designed ships, 465 ships of this design were constructed between 1940 and 1947.
Sea Pike had made one freight voyage before being converted to carry troops, sailing primarily to Australia, New Zealand, Micronesia and similar areas until mid-1945. She made several voyages between the US west coast and Australia's east coast with visits to many of the Pacific islands in the war zone. Her crew was a combination of civilian merchant sailors (38 - 62) and between 21 and 40 US naval personnel aboard to operate defensive guns and communications equipment.
She was renamed on 9 Nov 1945 to Mormacwave having transferred to the east coast of the US and then carried out two trips to Europe to take troops back to the US. In late Febuary 1946 she was released from troop service. In 1955 she was acquired by States Marine Corp. and renamed SS Lone Star State. In 1970 she was sold to Taiwanese ship-breakers and scrapped during April