From early in the Atlantic war, German U-boats took a terrible toll on Allied cargo transports plying the waters between the United States and Britain as well as between the United States and the Soviet Union. The ships were sunk faster than they could be built. In September 1940, well before the United States entered the war, Britain ordered 60 transports from the United States, supplying to the shipyards a radically simple design that lent itself to rapid construction. The single most important innovation was the use of welded rather than riveted plates. Welding greatly speeded construction but made for a far less durable ship. The British designers reasoned, however, that few vessels would survive the hazards of war long enough to create serious stress on the welded joints.

American designers, particularly those who worked for industrial giant Henry J. Kaiser, adapted and greatly modified the British plans, building ships at an even faster rate than the British had contemplated. In January 1941, the United States, girding for war, launched its own emergency construction program calling for 200 vessels. These were referred to as the "The Liberty Fleet," and the name "Liberty ship" was used to describe these cheap, ugly, slow transports--the first generation were 7,126-ton vessels, making no more than 11 knots--which were produced by mass-production factory methods to prefabricate large subassemblies put together at shipyards on the West and East Coasts. The ships were, sailors said, "built by the mile and chopped off by the yard." The first of the American vessels, Patrick Henry, was launched on September 27, 1941.

Although all were based on the same prefabricated structural plan, Liberty ships came in different lengths and were readily modified for different uses, including freight transportation (the most common use), fuel transport, troop transport, tank transport (so-called "zipper ships"), and tender (floating repair) vessels. Some were even constructed as hospital ships. In all, 2,710 liberty ships were launched. Kaiser and other shipyard owners engaged in heated competitions to prove who could build ships the fastest. The record was an incredible four days, 15.5 hours from the laying of the keel to launch. The ships were customarily named for prominent Americans.

The Liberty ships were a tremendous success and served as a lifeline to Britain and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union. Two hundred of the vessels were given to Britain and 50 to the USSR as part of the Lend-Lease program. Many of the other vessels were ultimately lost at sea, most of them victims of torpedo attack, but one in 30 succumbed to the inherent structural weakness of welded construction. The Liberty ships were lightly armed (and carried U.S. Navy gun crews). One, the Stephen Hopkins, earned the unique distinction of actually sinking an enemy combatant, a German auxiliary cruiser, with its single four-inch gun.

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