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Liberty Ships

Floor Speech

Date: June 11, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Arts, Entertainment, and History

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to remember the Liberty ships and those who built them during World War II in Savannah, Georgia.

Just after the U.S. entered the war, the Maritime Commission awarded a contract to the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation to start building cargo ships for military service.

The first completed ship was called the USS Oglethorpe, named after the city's founder. By the end of the war, 46,000 employees had produced 88 Liberty ships at the Savannah location.

These were America's lifeline to the war in Europe and the workhorses that transferred necessary supplies back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean filled with dangerous obstacles.

Unfortunately, the USS Oglethorpe was lost, torpedoed by a German U- boat in 1943. Today, a model of that ship stands at the Savannah trade center to thank and remember all those who served in the Savannah shipyards, constantly working to help win the war, as well as those ship captains who risked their lives crossing the ocean.

This generation truly deserves the name the Greatest Generation, and with them rested the fate of the entirety of Western civilization.

I am proud of this group in the First Congressional District of Georgia and their contribution to the effort during World War II.

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