SS ''John Owen'' ( MC contract 1970) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after

John Owen John Owen may refer to: Sports *John Owen (footballer) (1849–1921), English footballer and educator * John Owen (athlete) (1861–1924), American sprinter *Johnny Owen (1956–1980), Welsh boxer *John Owen (cricketer) (born 1971), English cricke ...

Governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The governor directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander in chief of the military forces of the state. The current governor, ...

from 1828 to 1830. The ship was laid down by

North Carolina Shipbuilding Company North Carolina Shipbuilding Company was a shipyard in Wilmington, North Carolina, created as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding Program in the early days of World War II. From 1941 through 1946, the company built 243 ships in all ...

in their Cape Fear River yard on April 15, 1943, and launched on May 10, 1943. ''Owen'' was chartered to the

William J. Rountree Company William J. Rountree Company was a steamship agent and broker company founded by William J. Rountree in New York City in 1912. William J. Rountree Company was active in supporting the World War II effort by chartering and operating Liberty ships a ...

most of World War II. First stored at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, she was transferred to the Astoria Reserve Fleet in 1949. While there, ''Owen'' was part of the United States Department of Agriculture grain storage program, holding 7000 tons of grain from 1954 to 1957. It was sold for scrap in 1964. On March 10, 1944, somewhere in the vicinity of Midway, SS ''John Owens master, Robert Ogg, "drowned accidentally at sea." A certified master, A. H. Hammet, was sent to Midway to take command of the ship.

References

Liberty ships Ships built in Wilmington, North Carolina 1943 ships {{liberty-ship-stub