SS Benjamin Rush

History
United States
NameBenjamin Rush
NamesakeBenjamin Rush
OwnerWar Shipping Administration (WSA)
OperatorUnited Fruit Co.
Orderedas type (EC2-S-C1) hull, MCE hull 303
Awarded1 May 1941
BuilderBethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland
Cost$1,068,694
Yard number2053
Way number16
Laid down13 December 1941
Launched25 June 1942
Sponsored byMrs. Benjamin Rush Jr.
Completed11 July 1942
Identification
FateSold for scrapping, 29 April 1954
General characteristics
Class & type
Tonnage
Displacement
Length
  • 441 feet 6 inches (135 m) oa
  • 416 feet (127 m) pp
  • 427 feet (130 m) lwl
Beam57 feet (17 m)
Draft27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m)
Installed power
  • 2 × Oil fired 450 °F (232 °C) boilers, operating at 220 psi (1,500 kPa)
  • 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion
Speed11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity
  • 562,608 cubic feet (15,931 m3) (grain)
  • 499,573 cubic feet (14,146 m3) (bale)
Complement
Armament

SS Benjamin Rush was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Benjamin Rush, a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, and educator as well as the founder of Dickinson College. Rush attended the Continental Congress. He served as Surgeon General of the Continental Army and became a professor of chemistry, medical theory, and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania.