SS ''William A. Graham'' ( MC hull number 160) was a Liberty ship built by the

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 ...

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...

, and launched on 26 July 1942. One of over 2,700 cargo ships produced during an emergency shipbuilding program, ''William A. Graham'' was named for William Alexander Graham, a 19th-century governor of North Carolina and a U.S. Secretary of the Navy. Constructed in eight weeks, the 441-foot steamship was operated by J. H. Winchester & Company. of New York. On her maiden voyage carrying

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

supplies to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

, ''William A. Graham'' narrowly evaded a

wolf pack A pack is a social group of conspecific canines. Packs aren't formed by all canines, especially small sized canines like the Red fox. The number of members in a pack and their social behavior varies from species to species. Social structure is v ...

of German submarines off

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in October 1942. The ship had a second close encounter with the enemy in June 1944, when German bombers attacked the harbor at

Anzio Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome. Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a Port, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine I ...

where ''William A. Graham'' lay at anchor with six other merchantmen. A record of ''William A. Graham''s maiden voyage is preserved in the diary of the ship’s first assistant engineer, Everett S. Ransom. Copies of the diary have been donated to nearly 30 libraries and museums around the United States, including the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Nimitz Library of the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

. After the war, ''William A. Graham'' carried cargo under different operators until being mothballed in 1952 in a reserve fleet in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

. In 1972, the ship was purchased for scrap and dismantled by the

Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation was a United States corporation that ran a shipbreaking operation. In the 1960s and 1970s it purchased many surplus U.S. Navy and U.S. Merchant Marine ships from World War II from the United States Marit ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Ransom, Everett S. (2005) ''To Karachi and Back on the William A. Graham: The Wartime Writings of a Merchant Mariner, 1942-43''. LCCN 2004094916 * North Carolina Shipbuilding Company (1946). ''Five Years of North Carolina Shipbuilding'' * Lane, Frederic C. ''Ships for Victory: A History of Shipbuilding under the U.S. Maritime Commission in World War II''. 1942 ships Liberty ships Ships built in Wilmington, North Carolina {{liberty-ship-stub

See also

References