This new book tells the story of the Ocean class of standard cargo
ships, their design, building and careers, and the author places
them firmly in the context of the battle of the Atlantic which was
raging at the time of the first launchings. They entered the
vanguard of the Allied shipping effort at a time when the German
U-boat threat was at its most dangerous, and British shipping
resources were stretched to the limit. They were deployed in the
North Atlantic, on the long supply routes around Africa to the
Middle East, in the Russian convoys, in operations in support of
the invasions of North Africa and Italy and the land campaigns
which followed, in the D-Day landings and later amphibious
operations on the south coast of France. Finally, some of the class
joined an invasion force making its way towards Malaya when Japan
surrendered in August 1945\. The Oceans paid a heavy price for
these accomplishments, one third of the class being lost to
torpedoes, bombs or mines in places as far apart as the Florida
coast, the Norwegian Sea, the Bay of Algiers and the Gulf of Oman.
While these achievements alone would merit an important place in
histories of the war at sea, the impact of the Oceans stretched far
beyond the direct contribution of the ships themselves. The yards
where they were built also served as models for a series of new
American shipyards, designed to mass produce cargo vessels with
such speed and in such volume as to completely reverse the
mathematics of attrition, which had run so badly against the Allies
into 1942\. Even more important, the Oceans' blueprints were used
as the basis for the American Liberty ship, the 2,700-strong fleet
which finally tilted the balance of the war at sea decisively in
the Allies' favour and went on to underpin the post-war renewal of
the world merchant fleet. This comprehensive new history, based on
extensive archival research and lavishly illustrated with
contemporary photographs, restores the Oceans to their rightful
place in history. The ships' design antecedents are explained, and
their ordering, financing and construction analysed in full.
Wartime operations are covered in depth, by theatre and with full
details of war losses and other casualties. The book concludes with
an assessment of their subsequent peacetime careers and a
comparison to other war-built designs. This is a model history of a
highly significant class of ship.
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