USNS Albert M Boe (T-AKV 6, Z-EC2-S-C5) Class

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USNS Albert M Boe (T-AKV 6).
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Class: ALBERT M BOE (T-AKV 6, Z-EC2-S-C5)
Design: MC Z-EC2-S-C5
Displacement (tons): 5,278 light, 14,245 full
Dimensions (feet): 442' oa, 428' wl x 57' e/wl x 28' max nav
Armament: none
Accommodations: 11 officers, 28 unlicensed
Speed (kts.): 11
Propulsion (HP): 2,500
Machinery: Steam triple expansion reciprocating, 2 boilers (220psi/450deg), 1 screw

Construction:

AKV	Name	Acq	Builder	Keel	Launch	Svc
6	ALBERT M BOE	1 Mar 1950	New England SB	11 Jul 1945	26 Sep 1945	1 Mar 1950
7	CARDINAL O'CONNELL	1 Mar 1950	New England SB	11 Jun 1945	31 Aug 1945	1 Mar 1950

Disposition:

AKV	Name	T	Inact/Cust	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
6	ALBERT M BOE	T	1 Dec 1953	11 Mar 1954	22 Jan 1954	MA	7 Aug 1964
7	CARDINAL O'CONNELL	T	13 Jan 1954/C	11 Mar 1954	13 Jan 1954	MA	--

Class Notes:
The Z-EC2-S-C5 was a special boxed aircraft transport variant of the standard Liberty with four enlarged holds rather than the standard five and three goal-post type masts and a pair of kingposts on the bridge face instead of the standard three masts. The three larger hatches were each served by two 30-ton and two 15-ton booms while No.4 hatch was served by two 5-ton derricks. Forty vessels of this type were ordered with the first one delivered in January 1945, contracts for four were cancelled after the war leaving 36 completed. ALBERT M BOE was the last Liberty ship to be built. The type was popular with the Navy after the war and 16 were converted to radar picket ships (AGR) and three to intelligence collection ships (AGTR). Only one, ORA ELLIS, saw long postwar commercial service. The eight Army tank carriers, type Z-EC2-S-C2 were similar Liberty redesigns; none served postwar.

In August 1948 the Army had eight Z-EC2-S-C5's on its list: BARNEY KIRSCHBAUM, CPL ERIC G GIBSON (ex MARY CULLOM KIMBRO), JOHN L McCARLEY, and ROBERT F BURNS operating from New York and ALBERT M BOE, CARDINAL O'CONNELL, WALTER W SCHWENK, and TOM TREANOR operating from San Francisco. The KIRSCHBAUM, GIBSON, and TREANOR were Army owned while the other five were on bareboat charters from the Maritime Commission. A year later the BURNS was off the Army list and the others were all in reserve except for the BOE and O'CONNELL, still in use as troop support cargo ships in the Far East. Only these two remained on the Army inventory on 28 February 1950.

AKV 6-7, were among the Army ships operating out of continental US ports that were to be acquired on 1 Mar 1950 for which names, classification, and hull numbers were approved on 21 Feb 1950. MSTS returned both ships to MARAD in January 1954. Both ships, then in reserve on the west coast, were considered in May 1962 for use as Technical Research Ships (AGTR 2-3), but ROBERT W HART and J HOWLAND GARDNER on the east coast were selected instead.

Ship Notes:

AKV	Name	MCE	Notes
6	ALBERT M BOE	3132	Completed 30 Oct 1945. Chartered by MC to Army 17 Feb 1947. To MA custody 22 Jan 1954. To buyer (Zidell) 19 Aug 1964 for non-transportation use. Brought from Blaine, Washington, to Alaska to serve as a a makeshift, water-based cannery for Alaska Packers after an earthquake and tsunami on Good Friday 1964 washed out their shore-based plant. She was firmly grounded next to the ferry dock in downtown Kodiak, converted, and renamed STAR OF KODIAK in Feb 1965. Bought on 19 Jan 1995 by the Tyson Seafood Group from All-Alaskan Seafoods, she became the landlocked headquarters of Trident Seafoods in Kodiak, Alaska. She is today one of four Liberty ships still in existence, the others being the operational JOHN W BROWN at Baltimore, the operational JEREMIAH O'BRIEN at San Francisco, and the stationary HELLAS LIBERTY (ex ARTHUR M HUDDELL) at Piraeus, Greece (for which see YAG 55).
7	CARDINAL O'CONNELL	3129	Completed 28 Sep 1945. Chartered by MC to Army 15 Feb 1947. Made at least three Army funeral ship voyages in February, May, and August 1948 bringing home to San Francisco thousands of war dead from India, Australia, New Zealand, Guadalcanal, the Central Pacific and the Hawaiian Islands. To MA custody 13 Jan 1954. Title to Navy 2 Sep 1969 for ammunition disposal by scuttling. Scuttled 1 Oct 1969 off the West Coast by explosive detonations.