SS Cody Victory

The SS Cody Victory was a Victory ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the California Shipbuilding Company on April 27, 1944, and completed on June 15, 1944. The ship's United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 69. She was operated by the Alcoa SS Company. SS Cody Victory served as a troop ship in the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean during World War II as part of Operation Magic Carpet. The SS Cody Victory and 96 other Victory ships were converted to troop ships to bring the US soldiers home.[2] Burt Lancaster was with the Army's Twenty-First Special Services Division on the Cody Victory on August 14, 1945, as the ship was at sea heading to Hampton Roads, Virginia, when the V-J Day announcement was made.[3] The Cody Victory boarded troops from Leghorn, Italy, on August 18, 1945, and then steamed to Naples, Italy on August 20, 1945, taking on more troops. She delivery the 2,032 troops to Hampton Roads Pier 8, including the 101st Ordnance MM Company.[4] On January 14, 1946, she arrived at New York Harbor from Marseilles, France, with 1,559 troops. On February 20, 1946, she arrived in New York Harbor from Bremerhaven, Germany, with troops.[5][6][7] [8]

Typical Victory ship
History
United States
Name:	SS Cody Victory
Namesake:	Cody, Wyoming
Owner:	U.S. Maritime Commission
Operator:	Alcoa SS Co.
Builder:	California Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down:	26 October 1944
Launched:	15 December 1944
Completed:	22 January 1945
Fate:	Sold to Peru, 1947
Peru
Name:	SS Yavari
Owner:	Corporacion Peruana de Vapores, Callao (1947—1968) Gold Shipping, Callao (1968—1969)
Renamed:	SS Naufraga, 1968
Fate:	Sunk on way to scrappers, 21 March 1969
General characteristics
Class and type:	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage:	7612 GRT, 4,553 NRT
Displacement:	15,200 tons
Length:	455 ft (139 m)
Beam:	62 ft (19 m)
Draft:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power:	8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion:	HP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller
Speed:	16.5 knots
Boats & landing craft carried:	4 Lifeboats
Complement:	62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards
Armament:	1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon
Notes:	[1]

Debarking the SS Cody Victory at Pier 8, Hampton Roads, in 1945 with 2,032 troops from Leghorn and Naples, Italy

After the war, in 1946, she was laid up in the Hudson River for a year.

Private use

In 1947, she was sold to Corporacion Peruana de Vapores, of El Callao, Peru, and renamed the SS Yavari. In 1968, she was sold to the Gold Shipping in Callao and renamed, SS Naufraga. On October 14, 1968, a cargo fire broke out while she was in Los Angeles. The damage was so severe she was not repaired. She was sold to a ship breaker in Taiwan. She was filled with scrap iron in her cargo hold for the trip to Taiwan. While being towed in rough seas the scrap iron shifted in her cargo hold and she took on a heavy angle of list on March 21, 1969. She continued to take on water and sank 1,000 miles southwest of San Francisco at 27° 02'N and 137° 23' W on March 27, 1969.[9][10][11][12] [13]

References

1. Babcock & Wilcox (April 1944). "Victory Ships". Marine Engineering and Shipping Review.
2. "Cody Victory". www.ww2troopships.com. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
3. Burt Lancaster: An American Life, By Kate Buford, page
4. skylighters.org, Names of All U.S. Victory Ships
5. Troop Ship of World War II, April 1947, Page 356-357
6. Our Troop Ships
7. Milford W. Crumplar, Corporal
8. Lud Lekson Collection
9. Victcoy ship list
10. Historia y Arqueología Marítima
11. Photo Yavari
12. Marina Mercante Peru, Yavari, in the Panama Canal
13. wrecksite, SS Yavarí (+1969)

Sources

• Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the ‘Victory’ type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
• United States Maritime Commission:
• Victory Cargo Ships