Writing about Mum and my big sister Rhondda visiting Dad in February 1945 inspired another ramble about the ship that Dad was stationed on at that time. It was SS Samkansa, one of the Sam class of ships built by the United States and generally described as Liberty ships.
In February 1945 Dad, who was acting petty officer, gunnery, was transferred from the MV Durham to the SS Samkansa while they were both docked in London. Their routes were very similar, through the Panama Canal and on to Australia, New Zealand and many other islands in the South Pacific. Why he transferred at that time is another of those questions that I cannot ask.
VE Day (Victory in Europe) came and went and the only difference to Dad was that he was now safe while crossing the Atlantic, save of course for all the other dangers, like the elements, that anyone going to sea faces. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the war raged on.
Crossing the equator
One of Dad’s claims to fame is that he had one extra birthday. It happened while his ship was crossing the international date line on his birthday, meaning he enjoyed two 23rds of May that year. Not that it made much difference to his life; his fellow crew members didn’t give him an extra present.
Celebrating crew members crossing the equator for the first time has long been a tradition. The photographs in Dad’s wartime archives show a celebration taking place for one of his crew mates on 8 November 1945. It seems the way they marked the milestone on this occasion was to shave the face and head of the victim and then throw them in a makeshift pool.
Interestingly, even though the war had finished a few months previously – VJ Day (Victory over Japan) was 2 September 1945 – in Dad’s photos you can see at least two of the gun emplacements that would have been constructed on all of the merchant ships that Dad served on during the war. They seem to be anti-aircraft gun housings, probably Bofors 25 or 40mm, or the Oerlikon 20mm cannons. All of these were very effective against aircraft and small surface craft, not so much against larger vessels, though could definitely spoil their day for a while.
Across the Pacific
Dad signed on to the SS Samkansa on 24 July 1945.The ship eventually formed part of the convoy that was destined to invade Japan. Luckily the Japanese surrendered and the convoy sailed around the Pacific for two or three months. In Mum’s memoirs she wrote that this was because they were searching for water that the Japanese hadn’t polluted, but it is more likely that it took a great deal of organising to disperse a convoy of that size.
Eventually the SS Samkansa arrived back in England, and much to Mum’s disapproval, Dad signed on a further voyage to land the Fifth Indian division at Surabaya, Java, which was then part of the Dutch East Indies. They also went on to repatriate some dignitaries that had earlier fled their country in advance of the Japanese invasion. Dad was eventually demobbed on 28 May 1946.
History of the Liberty ships
This is a typical Liberty ship of the kind that formed part of the ‘Lend-Lease’ system whereby the US was mechanising the allies to fight the Germans. This photo shows three gun emplacements, one on the bow (front) and one each side a little further back.
Between 1941 and 1945, 2,700 Liberty ships were built in the US in response to the German Kriegsmarine’s (War Navy) attempt, particularly through their U-boats (Unterseeboot), to sink as many allied merchant ships as possible. Almost 200 Liberty ships were lost to enemy action in WW2. It was generally accepted that if they successfully completed one voyage then they were cost effective. One voyage might take several months to complete.
Dad’s home port was usually Liverpool and a single tour could take him across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and then onto Australia, New Zealand and many South Sea Islands, before returning by the same route to Liverpool.
Whatever happened to the Samkansa?
Many Liberty ships survived the war to be sold on to private companies. The Samkansa was launched in 1943 under the name of Nikola Tesla but, as was often the case, this ship had a name change and became Samkansa for its wartime duties. After the war it was sold on to a series of private companies who gave it other names, eventually becoming Concord Venture. It was scrapped in Japan in 1970. It must have been a reet rusty hulk by then.
The Sam in Samkansa meant “superstructure aft of midship”.For non-seafarers, that means the lumpy bit on top of the ship, usually incorporating the crew quarters, bridge, galley, heads, communication and navigation stations, etc, is behind the centre line of the ship. And Kansa was named after the indigenous North American tribe from Oklahoma and parts of Kansas.
At their height 18 US shipyards were building Liberty ships and naturally competition developed to see which shipyard could complete a ship in the fastest time. The Kaiser shipyard in Oakland, California, built one named The Peary. From laying the keel to launching took four days 15 hours and 30 minutes, with a further three days for fitting out, painting, crew training, sea trials and loading 10,000 tons of cargo.
The Peary sailed seven days after the keel was laid. This was obviously an experiment to see how quick a ship could be built. All the materials were laid out ready, much of it would have been prefabricated, but to get a ship from laying the keel to sailing fully loaded on its maiden voyage in seven days is very impressive.
