This second edition 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

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: $165

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

Box Boats traces the history of container ships and the changes they brought to world commerce.

BOX BOATS, How Container Ships Changed the World

by Brian J. Cudahy.

• Soft cover, 352 pp. photos, tables, separate ship index.
• ISBN 0-8232-2568-2
• Price: $24.95

Passenger liners, tankers, freighters, heavy-lift ships — American President Lines, Farrell Lines, Isthmian Steamship Co., Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. and many others. Excellent photographs, a fascinating text.

MERCHANT SHIPS OF A BYGONE ERA, The Post-War Years

by William H. Miller.

• Soft cover, 8.5 x 11, 136 pp, 200+ photos, index.
• ISBN 0-9518656-7-6
• Price: $30.00

U.S. Lines, Grace Line, Moore-McCormack, MSTS, Alaska Steamship, American Banner Lines, Bull Line, Eastern Steamship Lines, many others, Wonderful photos!

PASSENGER LINERS AMERICAN STYLE

by William H. Miller.

• Soft cover, 8.5 x 11, 160 pp., 230 photos, Index.
• ISBN 0-9534291-1-3
• Price: $30

The story of twin paddlewheel riverboats: Delta Queen, the world’s most famous steamboat, and Delta King, restored as a floating luxury hotel in Sacramento, California.

KING AND QUEEN OF THE RIVER , The Legendary Paddle-wheel Steamboats Delta King and Delta Queen From the Roaring Twenties to the 1990s

by Stan Garvey.

• 288pp., photos, appendices, bibliography, index.
• ISBN 0-9642513-3-7
• Price: Hard cover $27.95
• Soft cover $19.95

Select an option: Hard Cover Soft Cover

The Pacific Northwest Coast can be as deadly as it is beautiful. David Grover tells true stories of shipwrecks and marine disasters in these waters.

THE UNFORGIVING COAST, Maritime Disaster of the Pacific Northwest

by David H. Grover.

• Soft cover, 220pp., photos.
• ISBN 0-87071-541-0
• Price: $19.95

This book is the complete account of the losses suffered by the American-flag merchant fleet, including ships and personnel, during World War II. The losses began on November 8, 1940 and ended on August 14, 1945 when Japan surrendered. But, even after hostilities ended, American ships sank after hitting drifting mines. The battle raged over all the world’s oceans. American merchant ships were ordered to sail alone to the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean. They went via the Panama Canal, the west coast of South America, and the Straits of Magellan. Others were convoyed as far as Trinidad, then sent across the South Atlantic alone. Hundreds of ships crossed the Pacific alone, headed for the Pacific Islands under Allied control, Australia or even India.

Included are 820 ships and over 6,600 merchant seamen who lost their lives.

A CARELESS WORD…A NEEDLESS SINKING; A history of the tremendous losses in ships and men suffered by the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II 1941-1946.

by Capt. Arthur R. Moore.

• Hard Cover, 8th printing, updated to 1998
• 8 ½ by 11, 550 photos, casualty lists
• Library of Congress Card Number: 82-73552
• Price: $100