SS Park Victory
Typical Victory Ship.
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Park Victory |
| Namesake: | Park University in Parkville, Missouri |
| Owner: | War Shipping Administration |
| Operator: | Seas Shipping Company |
| Builder: | Permanente Metals, Richmond, California |
| Yard number: | Richmond Shipyards #2 |
| Laid down: | 11 March 1945 |
| Launched: | 21 April 1945 |
| Acquired: | 16 May 1945 |
| Recommissioned: | In 1946 was converted to livestock carrier. |
| Fate: | Sank after accidental grounding in the Gulf of Finland on December 25, 1947 |
| 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) |
| Draught: | 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: |
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| Notes: | |
The SS Park Victory was a Victory-class cargo ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. The ship's military service is uncertain as it was launched on April 21, 1945, very near the end of the war.
The ship was named in honor of Park College (now Park University), one of 150 educational institutions that had Victory ships named after them. Park College was selected as a training center for the V-12 Navy College Training Program from 1943 to 1945. This partnership between the Navy and Park College may have led to the naming of a ship in the college's honor. In reciprocation, Park College donated $300 to buy 120 books for the library aboard the Park Victory. The launching ceremony on April 21, 1945 was attended by several Park alumni.
In 1946 the SS Park Victory was converted to carrier, manned by sea cowboys. The Park Victory load up with 485 horses and 322 heifers and steamed out of Baltimore on October 25, 1945. She arrived in Trieste, Italy and unload the livestock. The livestock were then transported by train and trucks to Yugoslavia.
From 1945 to 1947 the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the Brethren Service Committee of the Church of the Brethren sent to war-torn countries. These "seagoing cowboys" made about 360 trips on 73 different ships. The Heifers for Relief project was started by the Church of the Brethren started in 1942, in 1953 this became Heifer International program. The SS SS Carroll Victory was also one of these ships, known as a cowboy ship, as she move livestock across the Atlantic Ocean. The SS Park Victory moved horses, heifers, and mules also a few chicks, rabbits, and goats.
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