SS Bates Victory

SS Bates Victory was a World War II Victory ship named after Bates College in Maine.[1]

History
Name:	Bates Victory (1945–50) Remsen Heights (1950–68) Eastern Star (1968–70) Philomila (1970–71)
Builder:	California Shipbuilding, Los Angeles
Yard number:	787 MC hull #V71
Laid down:	9 March 1945
Launched:	2 May 1945
Completed:	26 May 1945
Identification:	Official number: 247865
Fate:	Scrapped 1971
General characteristics
Tonnage:	7,607 GRT, 10,850 DWT
Length:	455 ft (138.7 m)
Beam:	62 ft (18.9 m)
Draft:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Depth of hold:	38 ft (11.6 m)
Propulsion:	oil-fired boilers steam engine single screw
Speed:	15–17 knots (28–31 km/h)

The ship was a standard Victory cargo type VC2-S-AP2 constructed by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, in Los Angeles for the United States Maritime Commission (MC).[2][3]

The keel was laid down on March 9, 1945, with launch and christening as Bates Victory in Los Angeles Harbor at midnight on May 2, 1945.[2][3] The ship was completed and delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on May 26, 1945.[2][4] The General Steamship Corporation operated the ship under agreement with WSA until July 3, 1946. At that time the wartime operating agreement with General Steamship was changed to a bareboat charter to American Export Lines, first by WSA and when that organization was abolished after the war under MC auspices. On March 17, 1948 the ship was turned over under MC agreement to A. L. Burbank & Co. and laid up in the Reserve Fleet in the Hudson River. Bates Victory was brought out of the fleet in September 1950 and sold[note 1] to Isbrandtsen Co. Incorporated December 18, 1950. The ship was renamed Remsen Heights and in 1964 Isbrandtsen merged with American Export Lines to become American Export Isbrandtsen Lines. On November 21, 1968 the ship was sold to Valmar Shipping Agency, New York, and renamed Eastern Star.[4]

Eastern Star was sold to the Panamanian company Cia. Comercial Transatlantica S.A., Panama to change flag to Panamanian registry as Philomila. In 1971 The ship was scrapped in Taiwan in 1971.[4][5]

Footnotes

1. MARAD shows title to the ship passed at Jersey City, N.J. on December 10, 1950.

References

1. "The Bates Student – volume 72 number 04 – April 25, 1945" (1945).
2. Colton, Tim (April 26, 2017). "California Shipbuilding, Los Angeles CA". ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
3. Mirror (Yearbook). Bates College. 1964. p. 12. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
4. Maritime Administration. "Bates Victory". Ship History Database Vessel Status Card. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
5. Finch, Ted. "VICTORY SHIPS – B". Mariners. Retrieved 27 June 2019.