SS Francis Preston Blair

21.8°S 153.7°E / -21.8; 153.7

SS Francis Preston Blair

History
Name	Francis Preston Blair
Owner	War Shipping Administration.
Operator	Sudden & Christenson Company
Launched	3 January 1943
Fate	Wrecked 15 July 1945
General characteristics [1]
Class & type	Liberty ship type EC2-S-C1, standard
Tonnage	10,865 LT DWT 7,176 GRT
Displacement	3,380 long tons (3,434 t) (light) 14,245 long tons (14,474 t) (max)
Length	441 feet 6 inches (135 m) oa 416 feet (127 m) pp 427 feet (130 m) lwl
Beam	57 feet (17 m)
Draft	27 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	1 × triple-expansion steam engine,  (manufactured by General Machinery Corp., Hamilton, Ohio) 1 × screw propeller
Speed	11.5 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	38–62 USMM 21–40 USNAG
Armament	Varied by ship Bow-mounted 3-inch (76 mm)/50-caliber gun Stern-mounted 4-inch (102 mm)/50-caliber gun 2–8 × single 20-millimeter (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons and/or, 2–8 × 37-millimeter (1.46 in) M1 AA guns

SS Francis Preston Blair was an American Liberty ship, 7,196 tons stranded on Saumarez Reef in the Coral Sea during a cyclone in 1945. The ship has since deteriorated into a rusty heap. The wreck was used by Royal Australian Air Force F-111 aircraft for target practice during the 1980s.

The bronze propeller was salvaged by unknown persons between 1964 and 1970. Wreck was visited by Wild Kingdom who made a TV episode hosted by Marlin Perkins for USA and world distribution in 1971.

Francis Preston Blair was operated during World War II by Sudden & Christenson Company under charter ships from the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. She was unloading troops and supplies at off Queensland, Australia before the grounding.^[2]

See also

• World War II United States Merchant Navy