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 492 feet (150 m) from stem to stern (vs. 459 feet (140 m) for the C2), and designed to make 16.5
knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) (vs. 15.5 kn (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) 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.
C3 conversion: Two Sun Ship C3 ships were converted to
Long Island-class escort carriers. Mormacmail renamed
USS Long Island and Mormacland renamed
HMS Archer both were converted to escort carriers, at a top speed of 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).[3][4]
Express a C3-E, was torpedoed and sank off the coast of
Madagascar on 30 June 1942.
Almeria Lykes 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
HMS Avenger was torpedoed and sank near
Gibraltar on 15 November 1942.
Rio de Janeiro a C3-P&C, Avenger-class escort carrier, renamed
HMS Dasher, 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
USS Burleigh (APA-95)). 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.
Sawyer, L.A.; Mitchell, W.H. (1981). From America to United States: The History of the Long-range Merchant Shipbuilding Programme of the United States Maritime Commission. London: World Ship Society.