USS Liberty (ID # 3461) Fitting out at the yard of her builder, the Federal Shipbuilding Co., Kearny, New Jersey, circa September 1918. This freighter was in commission from October 1918 to May 1919. |
| History |
|---|
| United States |
|---|
| Name | USS Liberty |
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 1 |
| Launched | 19 June 1918 |
| Commissioned | 7 October 1918 |
| Decommissioned | 7 May 1919 |
| Fate | Beached, 11 January 1942 |
| General characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement | 13,130 tons |
| Length | 411 ft 6 in (125.43 m) |
| Beam | 55 ft (17 m) |
| Draft | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h) |
| Complement | 70 |
| Armament | 1 × 6" gun, 1 × 3" gun |
USAT Liberty was a United States Army cargo ship torpedoed by I-66 in January 1942 and beached on the island of Bali, Indonesia. She had been built as a Design 1037 ship for the United States Shipping Board in World War I and had served in the United States Navy in that war as animal transport USS Liberty (ID-3461). She was also notable as the first ship constructed at Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny, New Jersey. In 1963 a volcanic eruption moved the ship off the beach, and Liberty's wreck is now a popular dive site.
