SS Atchison Victory

SS Atchison Victory was a Victory ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the California Shipbuilding Company on 22 April 1944 and completed on 8 June 1944. The ship’s United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 11 (MCV-11, V11). She was built at a cost of $3,606,688.00 in 1944. The Maritime Commission turned her over to a civilian contractor, the American President Lines, for operation until the end of hostilities. Atchison Victory served in the Pacific during World War II. Her first stop was to Pearl Harbor on her way to the islands in the Pacific.

Typical Victory Ship.
History
United States
Name	SS Atchison Victory
Namesake	Atchison, Kansas
Owner	War Shipping Administration
Operator	American President Lines
Builder	California Shipbuilding Company, Los Angeles
Laid down	17 February 1944
Launched	22 April 1944
Completed	8 June 1944
Fate	Sold to the United Kingdom, 1946
United Kingdom
Name	SS Mohamed Ali el-Kebir
Operator	Khedivial Mail S.S. Company
Route	Alexandria - New York City
Fate	Sold to Egypt, 1960
Egypt
Name	SS Salah El Din
Acquired	United Arab Maritime Company 1961
Fate	Burned, 4 September 1963 Sold to Liberia, 1963
Liberia
Name	SS Mercantile Victory
Fate	Burned, 1964 Scrapped, 1965
General characteristics
Class and type	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage	7612 GRT, 4,553 NRT
Displacement	15,200 tons
Length	455 ft (139 m)
Beam	62 ft (19 m)
Draft	28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power	8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion	HP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller
Speed	16.5 knots
Boats & landing craft carried	4 Lifeboats
Complement	62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament	1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon
Notes

Postwar service

Atchison Victory was purchased by Furness Withy in 1946 and renamed SS Mohamed Ali el-Kebir. After refitting as an 8199-GRT 78 passenger, 1st class accommodations, cargo liner, she began service between Alexandria and New York City in 1948. She was renamed the SS Salah el-Din in 1960, but service to New York ended when she was nationalized by the United Arab Maritime Company in 1961 and converted back to a cargo only ship.

After two 1962 voyages through the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the Salah el-Din suffered a superstructure fire on 4 September 1963 killing the chief steward and gutting the bridge and crew's quarters. The fire was extinguished with the help of Hamilton, Ontario, firefighters who prevented the fire from reaching explosive cargo in the forward hold; but the ship took on a heavy angle of list. Stability was restored by pumping out the firefighting water, and on 22 November 1963 the Salah El-Din left Hamilton under tow. Salvador Investment Company purchased the ship at Quebec City for repair in Houston. The ship was renamed SS Mercantile Victory and returned to service in March 1964, but suffered an engine room fire on the Red Sea on 23 April 1964. The ship was towed to Khorramshahr in Iran to offload her cargo, and then was towed back to Marseille in France. Repair was considered impractical, so the ship was scrapped at Castellón de la Plana in 1965.

Sources

• Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the ‘Victory’ type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
• United States Maritime Commission: [1]
• Victory Cargo Ships [2]