SS AMERICAN VICTORY (Victory ship) - Tampa, FL
Posted by: 
Lat34North
N 27° 56.624 W 082° 26.666
17R E 357897 N 3091808
The SS American Victory is a Second World War Victory ship which has been preserved as a museum ship in Tampa, Florida. Located on the Ybor channel, Tampa Bay at the end of E Cumberland Ave, Tampa, FL.
Waymark Code: WM5X7J
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 02/23/2009
Views: 9
The SS American Victory is a Second World War Victory ship which has been preserved as a museum ship in Tampa, Florida. Located on the Ybor channel, Tampa Bay at the end of E Cumberland Ave, Tampa, FL.
Adult: $10.00
Children: $4.00
From Wikipedia:
SS American Victory is a Second World War Victory ship which has been preserved as a museum ship in Tampa, Florida.
Named after American University in Washington, D.C., she was built at the California Shipbuilding (Calship) Yard in Los Angeles, California and was delivered on 20 June 1945. She carried cargo in the Pacific until the end of the war, when she collected military equipment from Calcutta and Port Said for return to the United States. From June 1946 until November 1947 she was chartered by American Export Lines, carrying foodstuffs and machinery exported from the United States to Europe under the Marshall Plan. She was then laid up in the Hudson River Reserve Fleet until she was again chartered by commercial shipping lines from 1951 until January 1954 when she entered the Sabine River Reserve Fleet in Texas.
In 1963 plans were made to convert her and 14 other Victory ships to "forward depot" vessels, to be loaded with war materiel and stationed near potential flashpoints to provide American forces with pre-positioned supplies. The scheme was cancelled in February 1966 after only three conversions had been carried out. Had American Victory been converted, she would have been renamed USNS Carthage and assigned pennant AG 185.
She was removed from reserve and chartered to the Hudson Waterways Corporation in 1966, which used her to ferry military equipment to American forces in South Vietnam. She was deactivated again in October 1969 and placed in the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia where she remained until 1985. She was then renovated as part of a program to determine the effort needed to reactivate mothballed Victory ships. In June after $2.5 million had been spent to bring her up to operational condition she sailed for just 26 hours before returning to the reserve fleet.
One of several Victory ships due to be scrapped, she was rescued in October 1998 for preservation as a museum ship and memorial. She arrived under tow at Tampa on 16 September 1999 where she is now on display and included on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to her floating museum role, American Victory still sails for "Living History Day Cruises".
Street address:
705 Channelside Dr
Berth 271
Tampa, FL
USA
County / Borough / Parish: Hillsborough
Year listed: 2002
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1950-1974
Historic function: Transportation / Water-Related
Current function: Recreation And Culture / Museum
Privately owned?: yes
Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.