SS Jeremiah O'Brien is a

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and named after the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

ship captain

Jeremiah O'Brien Captain Jeremiah O'Brien (1744–1818) was an Irish-American captain in the Massachusetts State Navy. Prior to its existence (or that of the Continental Navy), he commanded the sloop ''Unity'' when he captured the Royal Navy, British armed s ...

(1744–1818). Now based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, she is a rare survivorThe tugboat '' Nash'', another National Historic Landmark ship located in Oswego, New York, is another survivor of the D-Day fleet,} as is the battleship near Houston, Texas. of the 6,939-ship 6 June 1944 D-Day armada off the coast of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, France. ''Jeremiah O'Brien'', , and are the only currently operational Liberty ships of the 2,710 built.

History

World War II

''Jeremiah O'Brien'' is a class EC2-S-CI ship, built in just 56 days at the

New England Shipbuilding Corporation The New England Shipbuilding Corporation was a shipyard located in the city of South Portland, Maine, United States. The yard originated as two separate entities, the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation and the South Portland Shipbuilding C ...

South Portland, Maine South Portland is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, and is the fourth-largest city in the state, incorporated in 1898. At the 2020 census, the city population was 26,498. Known for its working waterfront, South Portland is sit ...

and launched on 19 June 1943. Deployed in the

European Theater of Operations The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It commanded Army Ground For ...

, she made four round-trip convoy crossings of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and was part of the

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

invasion fleet armada on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

. She made 11 cross-channel round-trips to support the invasion. Following this she was sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations and saw 16 months of service in both the South Pacific and Indian Ocean calling at ports in Chile, Peru, New Guinea, the Philippines, India, China, and Australia.

Postwar

The end of the war caused most of the Liberty ships to be removed from service in 1946 and many were subsequently sold to foreign and domestic buyers. Others were retained by the U.S. Maritime Commission for potential reactivation in the event of future military conflicts. ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' was mothballed and remained in the National Defense

Reserve Fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; a ...

Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the ent ...

for 33 years.

Restoration

In the 1970s, however, the idea of preserving an unaltered Liberty Ship began to be developed and, under the sponsorship of Rear Admiral Thomas J. Patterson, USMS (then the Western Regional Director of the U.S. Maritime Administration), the ship was put aside for preservation instead of being sold for scrap. In a 1994 interview printed by the Vintage Preservation magazine ''Old Glory'', Patterson claimed the ship was steamed to her anchorage in the mothball fleet (unlike the many that were secured as unserviceable and towed into storage), and frequently placed at the back of the list for disposal which undoubtedly contributed to her survival. An all-volunteer group, the National Liberty Ship Memorial (NLSM), acquired ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' in 1979 for restoration. At that time, she was virtually the last Liberty at the anchorage. The volunteers who campaigned to resurrect the mothballed ship (led by Captain Edward MacMichael, NLSM Executive Director, and Master) were able to get the steam plant operating while she remained in Suisun Bay. After more than three decades in mothballs, ''Jeremiah O'Brien's'' boilers were lit. The ship left the mothball fleet on 6 October 1979 bound for San Francisco Bay, drydocking, and thousands of hours of restoration work. She was the only Liberty Ship to leave the mothball fleet under her own power. ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' then moved to Fort Mason on the San Francisco waterfront just to the west of Fisherman's Wharf to become a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

dedicated to the men and women who built and sailed with the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

in World War II. She was named a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1984 and designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1986. Licensed to carry tours around San Francisco Bay, it was suggested that the ship be restored to oceangoing specification. After efforts in securing sponsorship, this was accomplished in time for the 50th "D-Day" Anniversary Celebrations in 1994.

50th Anniversary of D-Day

In 1994, ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' steamed through the Golden Gate bound for France. She went down the West Coast, through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

, and crossed the Atlantic for the first time since World War II. She stopped first in London, England, where she was berthed adjacent to HMS ''Belfast'', then went on to Portsmouth for the D-Day +50 celebrations before she continued on to Normandy, where ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' and her crew (a volunteer crew of veteran World War II-era sailors and a few cadets from the

California Maritime Academy The California State University Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime or CSU Maritime Academy) is a public university in Vallejo, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system and the only maritime academy on the Unit ...

) participated in the 50th Anniversary of

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

, the Allied invasion of Western Europe. She was the only large ship from the original Normandy flotilla to return for the event.

Today

Docked at Pier 45, she makes several passenger-carrying daylight cruises each year in the San Francisco Bay, and occasional voyages to more distant ports such as Seattle and San Diego. Footage of the ship's engine was used in the 1997 film ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' to depict the ill-fated ship's own triple-expansion engines. The engine is very similar to the engines on board the RMS ''Titanic''; two of her engines were triple expansion marine steam engines, albeit ''Titanic'' engines were four cylinders as opposed to three. The ship is completely restored to its original World War II configuration. Most areas are open to the public, including the engine room, bridge, and cargo holds. Modernization has been kept to a minimum and mostly involves systems related to safety, communications, and navigation. In 2009, ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' was dry docked inside ''

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

'' at Pier 70. On 23 May 2020, SS ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' and USS ''Pampanito'' were threatened by a 4-alarm fire at a warehouse structure next to where ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' was berthed at San Francisco's Pier 45, but both vessels were undamaged due to the actions of the local firefighters. The fireboat ''St. Francis'' is credited with saving the ship. The ship was temporarily moved to Pier 35 during the cleanup process.

Gallery

File:Jeremiah O'Brien (Liberty ship, San Francisco).JPG, At Pier 45, Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California File:O'brien underway.jpg, SS ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' underway in San Pablo Bay on 27 August 2005, as seen from the aft steering station File:S.S. Jeremiah OBrien, Polynesian fantasy.jpg, Polynesian fantasy pinups painted on SS ''Jeremiah O’Brien's'' bow for her maiden voyage. Found beneath later paint, they were restored during the ship's 1990s restoration File:WWII_Liberty_Ship_"SS_Jeremiah_O'Brien"_engine_room_status_board_while_underway.jpg, Engine room status board seen while underway File:Jeremiah O'Brien (IMO 5171749).jpg, SS ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' arriving at Chatham (UK), 8 June 1994 File:Jeremiah_O.Brien_Steam_Whistle_2022.jpg, SS ''Jeremiah O'Brien'' steam whistle

Notes

References

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeremiah O'Brien Liberty ships Museum ships in San Francisco 1943 ships Ships built in Portland, Maine Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in California World War II merchant ships of the United States United States Merchant Marine Golden Gate National Recreation Area Military and war museums in California National Historic Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco Battle of the Atlantic Naval battles of World War II involving the United States Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom Naval battles of World War II involving Germany American Theater of World War II World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in California