The Liberty ships were the backbone of the Allied supply lines in World War II. Millions of tons of war materiel were needed on battlefronts around the world. The full might of U.S. industrial power was brought to bear and, “built by the mile and chopped off by the yard,” 2,710 Libertys sailed out of American shipyards to deliver the goods. From Murmansk to the great D-Day invasion; in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war; from Iwo Jima and the Leyte landings to the invasion of Okinawa, Libertys were the “bridge of ships” that helped the Allies win the war.

The Liberty Ships from A (A.B. Hammond) to Z (Zona Gale) is the result of over five years of exhaustive research and contains everything known about Liberty ships, every single one: who named for; where built, launched, delivered; type engine, operator, wartime history, postwar service; what ultimately happened to each ship. Cross-referenced and indexed under every name each ship was known under, with over 400 photos, this is truly “the last word” on Liberty ships with special chapters on the two Liberty ship museums.

This is a large-size, reader-friendly book, with clean type on high-quality paper, and avoids codes and abbreviations.

 

THE LIBERTY SHIPS from A (A.B. Hammond) to Z (Zona Gale)

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 8 1/2 x 11, 736 pp., 400+ photos & illus., biblio., index
• ISBN 1-889901-25-3
• Price: $145

The Victory ships were a major part of the Allied thrust in the Pacific during the last eighteen months of World War II. They supported the great battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, then brought thousands of servicemen home again in “Operation Magic Carpet.” But the fast, versatile Victory ships were also built for the future, and for decades were a mainstay of the merchant fleets of the United States and her wartime allies. Victorys supported the atomic bomb tests, scientific expeditions to the Antarctic, supply missions to the Arctic, the space missile program. They stood by during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Arab-Israeli war and supplied the U.S. military during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

This comprehensive work is the result of five years’ research by Capt. Jaffee into government records, published works, oral histories and other sources. It is everything known about all 534 Victory ships: how the Victory ship program developed; design and specifications; when and where built; engine, operator, wartime and postwar history; every name and owner the ship sailed under; what finally happened to each ship. Special chapters on the three Victory ship museums. All the ships (and all names they became known under) are cross-referenced and indexed.

This is a large-size, reader-friendly book, with clean type on high-quality paper, and avoids codes and abbreviations.

THE VICTORY SHIPS from A (Aberdeen Victory) to Z (Zanesville Victory)

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 8 ½ x 11, 416 pp., 300+ photos & illus., biblio., index.
• ISBN 978-1-889901-37-4
• Price: $120

This is a new history of the Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien. Built in 56 days, launched in the midst of World War II, she was expected to serve for five years at most — if she was lucky. This new edition spans the O'Brien's historic voyages from the battlegrounds of Europe and the North Atlantic, the awesome preparations for D-Day and 11 landings on the beaches of Normandy. Then across a half century to her second life as a national landmark and her return to Normandy in 1994. As the last survivor of the great D-Day armada, she was the “centerpiece” of the 50^th Anniversary events in England and France.

SS JEREMIAH O’BRIEN,
The History of a Liberty Ship from the Battle of the Atlantic to the 21^st Century

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 416 pp., 200+ photos & illus., biblio., index
• ISBN 1-889901-33-4.
• Price: $35

This is the story of one of the most remarkable sea battles of World War II: a lone American Liberty freighter with one World War I-era cannon and a few machine guns, taken by surprise by two heavily-armed German warships. In a fierce twenty-two minute battle, under heavy attack, aflame and sinking, the Stephen Hopkins guns kept firing, destroying the raider and damaging the blockade runner. It is a story of extraordinary valor under the direst of circumstances.

ACTION IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC; the Sinking of the German Raider Stier by the Liberty ship Stephen Hopkins.

by Gerald Reminick

• Hard cover, 6 x 9, 320 pp., 100+ photos, charts & illus., biblio, index
• ISBN 978-1-889901-38-1
• Price: $29.95

SS LANE VICTORY served in three wars — World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. You are aboard on her wartime runs and share the sorrow, fear, excitement, boredom and terror that are the life of a ship and its crews in wartime. Then come aboard the Lane, in her second life as an active musuem ship and “movie star” as she serves as a stage for TV and Hollywood films, and makes cruises that bring her history alive.

THE LANE VICTORY

A Victory Ship in War and in Peace

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, 448 pp, 119 photos
• ISBN 0-9637586-9-4
• Price: $30

For those who love Liberty ships, who enjoy looking back to the days of wind ships and luxury liners, or who are intrigued with the idea of cooking on a big, old, coal-fired stove, this is the cookbook for you! Profusely illustrated and adjusted for modern stoves, here are recipes for great dishes from appetizers to desserts, menus from famed ships and liners of bygone days as re-created for the O'Brien's popular raffle prize Dinners for Eight, favorites of the volunteer crew cooked aboard on steaming weekends, rare recipes from the Age of Sail — hard tack, sky blue, dandyfunk — and history capsules. It's a unique cookbook that both men and women will enjoy.

RECIPES FROM A COAL-FIRED STOVE*

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien cookbook

(*adjusted for gas and electric stoves)

by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee

• Hard cover, lay-flat binding, 200 pp, 200 photos & illustrations, bibliography, recipe index, subject index
• ISBN 1-889901-22-9
• Price: $29.95

Good Shipmates (Vol. 1: 1942 to 1994) is the story of the restoration of Baltimore's Liberty ship, the John W. Brown, told through the experiences of the ship’s volunteers during World War II and now coming on board to restore her as an active ship and living museum. Written by Ernest Imhoff, a former editor of the Baltimore Sun, Good Shipmates captures the essence of the ship, her crew and her Living History Cruises.

GOOD SHIPMATES, The Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown

by Ernest F. Imhoff

• Volume One: 1942 to 1994
• Soft cover, 416 pp, 100+ photos & illustrations
• ISBN 978-1-889901-36-7
• Price: $24.95

Part two of the modern history of the John W. Brown is now available. Author Ernest F. Imhoff continues his story of this active museum ship through the eyes of the volunteers, their families, friends and supporters.

GOOD SHIPMATES, The Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown

by Ernest F. Imhoff

With a forward by Russell Baker

• Volume Two: 1995-2006
• Soft cover, 416 pp, 100+photos & illustrations
• ISBN 978-1-889901-39-8
• Price: $24.95