An Old Ship

Michelson was already getting to be an old ship in 1962. Originally launched in Portland, Oregon in June 1944 as SS Joliet Victory (type VC2-S-AP3), only five weeks elapsed  from laying of the keel to launching! Various shipyards built over 500 of these Victory class cargo vessels toward the end of WW II. Considerably stronger and faster than the Liberty ships constructed earlier during the war, they had five holds, three forward and two aft. 


SS Joliet Victory when operated by Alaska Steamship Company. Date and location unknown.

While strictly functional, Victory ships had a certain style, with a raised bow and rounded "cruiser stern" plus a  forward superstructure curved on both port and starboard sides, sort of a small attempt at graceful streamlining. Most Victory ships were named for American cities, others for colleges and universities.

There was an old sea story, frequently repeated, about Victory hulls being built for one trip only. Perhaps this was true for the Liberty ships, but during both the Korean and Vietnam wars dozens of VC-2 vessels were taken out of the reserve (mothball) fleet and restored to service. Three of them are still alive today as museum ships.

 Joliet Victory went into service late in WW II. Later it was operated as a commercial freighter by various shipping lines. It was taken out of service and joined the mothball fleet for several years, then resurrected in 1958, and converted to a deep ocean survey ship at the Charleston Naval Shipyard in South Carolina. The ship was renamed USNS Michelson after Albert Abraham Michelson who in addition to having been a US Navy commander and professor at the Naval Academy, was the first person to accurately measure the speed of light. Michelson received the Nobel prize for physics in 1907.

Seagulls on Michelson's fo'c'sl.
Photo by Carl Friberg.
Statistics include: length (455 feet), beam (62 feet), draft (23 feet) and displacement 13,050 long tons, fully loaded. Two boilers, a cross compound steam turbine, double reduction gears and an 18 foot diameter propeller gave Michelson a speed of 16 knots, although it could cruise at 17 knots flat out.

Michelson was operated by the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), the transport and special missions arm of the navy. MSTS ships were manned by civilian merchant marine crews. MSTS is now (since 1970) known as Military Sealift Command (MSC).