How A Cargo Ship Helped Win WW2: The Liberty Ship Story

During World War Two, hundreds of cargo ships raced across the Atlantic in an effort to keep Britain supplied. But these ships were being sunk by German U-boats, warships and aircraft. In 1940 alone, over a thousand allied ships were lost on their way to Britain.

The United States, while not yet at war, was playing a vital role in supplying Britain. But with ships being sunk daily, Britain and America desperately needed a way to keep all that material moving across the Atlantic. In response, 18 shipyards across the coastal United States mobilized to build thousands of large cargo ships known as Liberty Ships. They would be built even faster than the enemy could sink them. At one point the shipyards were building one large Liberty Ship every eight hours.

Two revolutionary changes in shipbuilding will make this enormous feat possible. The first is welding and the second is the use of a modular assembly process. By mid 1941, the sheer number Liberties out at sea, along with increasing armed escorts overwhelmed German forces. Advances in anti-submarine technologies also started stamping out the U-boat threat.

Today, there are only three Liberty Ships remaining of the 2,710 built that remind us of their enormous contribution to winning World War Two. #LibertyShip #WW2 #CargoShip

Music (reproduced under license):

Intro: "Agent Of Chaos":

Main: "Titanic Battle"

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[davidllewis]

My father served as Radio Officer on one of these ships. He had missed his assigned ship and someone with a similar name had taken his place. After the war my parents found out his assigned ship went down with loss of all hands. No one will ever tell all the stories of WWII.

[richyhu]

This ship is literally the phrase "I maybe be trash, but its called a trash can not a trash can't"

[dafiltafish]

The fact that these things worked as intended is amazing to me.

[hike]

"if we throw enough bodies at the enemy they will run out of ammo"

[clydecessna]

The other secret is that you only needed two professional crew members: The Captain and the Chief Engineer. Everybody else only needed a few weeks of basic seamanship. It's a pity so few have survived.

[jackvanderhyde]

As a child I had a plastic Liberty cargo ship, that refused to sink in ponds or bathtubs. I recognised the design immediately.

[diamondcreepah]

Roosevelt when he saw the liberty schematics: oh my lord it's hideous give me like 2000 of them

[xhlryoy]

Of all the Liberty ships and Victory ships, I would like to say that Meredith Victory is special to Korean people. She saved 14, 000 refugees during the Korean War as it helped the US forces retreat from Chosin Reservoir on Dec. 23, 1950. Five more people got off the boat than got on, as five babies were born en route to freedom.

[veryunusualdude]

USSR: produce more tanks than the enemy can make shells.
USA: *PRODUCE MORE SHIPS THAN THE ENEMY CAN MAKE TORPEDOES*

[darrylr.]

My Dad signed up for the Merchant Marines shortly after his accelerated graduation from high school in early 1942. He had asthma so none of the armed services would take him. The Merchant Marines were desperate for help since the draft took most eligible candidates and the large ship losses to U-Boats discouraged many from signing up. He wound up seeing more action than many military did. He mostly served on Liberty Ships. During D-Day his ship the SS Lyman Hall was hit by German artillery and heavily damaged. My Dad got some shrapnel in his head which was never removed since it didn't cause him any problems. He saw many ships in his convoys sunk, luckily he didn't have to experience that. After the war he went to Merchant Marine Officer's school and was licensed to work as a Chief Mate (2nd in command) although he usually sailed as 2nd or 3rd Mate until his retirement in the mid 1970's.

[davidchristensen]

My grandmother was a trained welder, she was trained well enough that the crane would swing a plate into position her and the other women would tack weld the plate. Then move to the next position for the next plate or part. Then her husband my grandfather the skilled welders would follow behind and weld the plate or part permanently. 1 crew of trackers could tack work for 3 crews of welders. Lots of ship yard stories she had lots of ship yard jewelry that she made from copper and bits of brass she could find and were small enough not to feel bad for not dropping them into the recycling bin.

[davidchristensen]

It was cargo ship, cargo planes and cargo trucks the USA made allowed supplies to flow unlike anything before. My grandmother and grandfather built these ships. My grandmother was a welder in the ship yard in Portland Oregon. Built a ship in 4 to 5 days max.

[covidnineteen]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the remedy for these ships braking in half. They were fitted with two giant pieces of steel on either side to reinforce the hull. It wasn't pretty but it worked.

[guypersonname]

"well if we throw enough ships at the torpedo's they'll eventually run out of torpedo's!"

[JeffLeChefski]

I always admire the genius of American industry during WW2. I would like to mention that all the Commonwealth countries were pumping out ships, tanks, airplanes and arms throughout the war. In Canada alone we built over 400 cargo ships and 100's of Navy vessels. Half the trucks supplied to the British Army came from Canada. Big effort all around.

[CybranM]

These videos are a treat to watch, excellent use of historical footage and really nice rendered models.

[rudyossanchez]

I got to be honest, this is some of the best content in the youtubes,

[uss_]

06:46
But did WW2 Wartime Britain really need all that Mustard?

[Player-]

"Brutally Simple" is my new favorite catchphrase.

[marxel]

You know the meme of spongebob breaking Squidwards alarm and he just replaces it...revealing a full closet of perfectly fine clocks?

Yeah...germany vs the industrial might of the USA in the atlantic.

As a german i respect the man and woman manning the transportships for briten and back for their bravery to face certain death by the hands of an unseen enemy that could strike every second.