Type C3-class ship explained

-- commercial vessel classes -->	+Type C3 Ship Image: USSHercules.jpg Ship Caption: Exporter, the first C3 ship to be completed. Shown in 1943, after conversion by the US Navy to . Class Before: Type C2 Class After: Type C4 Built Range: 1940–1947 Total Ships Completed: 238 Ship Tonnage: 7,800 gross tons Ship Displacement: 12,000 deadweight tons. Ship Length: 492feet Ship Beam: 69.5feet Ship Draft: 28.5feet Ship Power: turbine developing 8,500 hp Ship Speed: (designed)

Type C3-class ships were the third type of cargo ship designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in the late 1930s. As it had done with the Type C1 ships and Type C2 ships, MARCOM circulated preliminary plans for comment. The design presented was not specific to any service or trade route, but was a general purpose ship that could be modified for specific uses. A total of 162 C3 ships were built from 1939 to 1946.^[1]

The C3 was larger and faster than the C1 and C2 contemporaries, measuring from stem to stern (vs. for the C2), and designed to make 16.5kn (vs. 15.5kn for the C2). Like the C2, it had five cargo holds. A total of 465 of these ships were built between 1940 and 1947. A total of 75 ships were built with C3 hulls and engines, but not built as cargo ships.

During World War II, many C3 ships were converted to naval uses, particularly as s, and as and s, Klondike-class destroyer tenders, submarine tenders, and seaplane tenders.

Ships in type

• C3 DWT 12,595
  • Elizabeth C. Stanton-class (AP 4 hulls)
• C3 multiple or unverified sub-types
  • Klondike-class (AD 4 hulls)
  • President Jackson-class (AP 2+5 hulls, APA 5)
  • Windsor-class (AP 1 hull, APA 8+1)
  • Kenneth Whiting-class (AV 4 hulls) ^[2]
• C3-A DWT 10,000 as in
• C3-E DWT 9,514 as in
• C3-P&C DWT 10,000 some converted to
• C3-S-A1 DWT 12,595 as in some converted to
• C3-S-A2 DWT 12,595
  • Bayfield-class (AP 16 hulls, APA 16+18)
  • Aegir-class (AS 4 hulls)
• C3-S1-A3 DWT 12,595
  • Frederick Funston-class (AP 2 hulls, APA same 2 hulls)
• C3-S-A4 DWT 11,000 the six President ships
• C3-S-A5 DWT 11,800 as in
• C3-S1-BR1 DWT 9,900, three built: Del Norte, Del Sud & Del Mar
• C3-S-BH1 DWT 12,600 five built: Tillie Lykes, Almeria Lykes, Lipscomb Lykes, Norman Lykes & Doctor Lykes
• C3 Mod. DWT 12,430, as in
• C3 conversion: Two Sun Ship C3 ships were converted to s. Mormacmail renamed and Mormacland renamed both were converted to escort carriers, at a top speed of .^{[3] [4]}

Production

• Ingalls Shipbuilding, MS: 80
• Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, WA: 43
• Western Pipe and Steel Company, CA: 43
• Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, MD: 21
• Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, NJ: 19
• Newport News Shipbuilding, VA: 10
• Bethlehem Fore River, MA: 8
• Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., PA: 8
• Moore Dry Dock Company, CA: 4
• Tampa Shipbuilding Company, FL: 2

Modified and redesignated

• 45 s
• 59 Attack transports
  • 3
  • 4
  • 2
  • 9
  • 34
  • 7
• 7 Submarine tenders
  • • • 2
  • 4
• 2 s
  • AR-9 (prev: AK-29), AR-12
• 2 s
  • ,
• 2 Seaplane tenders
  • ,

Notable incidents

• a C3-E, was torpedoed and sank off the coast of Madagascar on 30 June 1942.
• a C3, renamed Empire Condor was torpedoed and sank off coast of Tunisia on 13 August 1942.
• Rio Hudson a C3-P&C, rebuilt and converted to Avenger-class escort carrier. Was renamed was torpedoed and sank near Gibraltar on 15 November 1942.
• USN CVE-21, a C3-S-A1, was torpedoed and sank near the Azores-Canary Islands on 29 May 1944.
• Rio de Janeiro a C3-P&C, Avenger-class escort carrier, renamed, exploded and sank in the Lower Clyde in Scotland in 1943.
• The SS Jacob Luckenbach, originally Sea Robbin, sank on 14 July 1953 after a collision off San Francisco in fog with another C3 ship, the SS Hawaiian Pilot (originally). Both ships were built at Ingalls and were only five hull numbers apart. The wreck was determined in 2002 to be a source of oil pollution and about 85,000 gallons of oil were removed.^[5]
• The USNS Card was attacked on 2 May 1964, while moored dockside in Saigon, a North Vietnamese frogman, Lam Son Nao, planted an explosive charge that blew a hole in the hull, killing five crewmen.

See also

• Type C1 ship
• Type C2 ship
• Type C4 ship
• Type R ship
• T1 tanker
• T2 tanker
• T3 tanker
• Liberty ship
• Victory ship
• Hog Islander
• U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

References

• Book: Sawyer, L.A. . From America to United States: The History of the Long-range Merchant Shipbuilding Programme of the United States Maritime Commission . W.H. . Mitchell . London . 1981 . World Ship Society.
• Web site: United States Maritime Commission C3 Type Ships . American Merchant Marine at War . 2013-07-18.

Notes and References

1. http://shipbuildinghistory.com/merchantships/2c3cargoships.htm shipbuildinghistory.com shipbuildinghistory.com, List of all C3 ships
2. Web site: KENNETH WHITING AV 14 . Naval Cover Museum . 5 May 2023.
3. Web site: Moore-McCormack, Mormacland . Moore-McCormack . 18 March 2009.
4. Web site: A history of HMS Archer . Royal Navy Research Archive . 18 March 2009.
5. Web site: The Shipwreck Jacob Luckenbach . National Marine Sanctuaries, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration .