LIBERTY'S PROVENANCE-EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERTY SHIP Delai:3 semaines PSB554

The battle of the Atlantic, fought by the Allies to maintain vital trade routes for armaments, men and basic sustenance, could not have been won without the 2,710 Liberty ships that were designed and built for those critical voyages to Europe ; and the kudos for the Liberty's construction is, rightfully, American. Less well understood is that the groundwork for the shape of the hull and its basic hydrodynamics took place in the North Sands shipyard of Joseph Thompson & sons Ltd on the banks on the River Wear in Sunderland.

This book follows the path of the critical designs that flowed from Thompson's shipyard commencing with SS Embassage in 1935, SS Dorington Court in 1939, through the SS Empire Wind/Wave series for the ministry of war transport in 1940 to SS Empire Liberty in 1941. These led to the sixty Ocean Class vessels built by Henry J Kaiser and, from these, the Liberty ship was adapted by American naval architects Gibbs & Cox who, to this very day, still claim the design as their own.