SS Ralph A. Cram

SS Ralph A. Cram was an American Liberty ship built in 1943 for service in World War II. Her namesake was Ralph Adams Cram, an influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings. She was operated by Smith-Johnson Steamship Corporation under charter with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration.

Huta Ostroviec in 1969
History
United States
Name	Ralph A. Cram
Namesake	Ralph A. Cram
Builder	California Shipbuilding Corp.
Completed	1943
Commissioned	1943
Renamed	Atlantico, 1947 Huta Ostroviec, 1963
Fate	Scrapped, 1973
General characteristics
Class & type	Liberty ship
Displacement	14,245 long tons (14,474 t)[1]
Length	441 ft 6 in (134.57 m) o/a 417 ft 9 in (127.33 m) p/p 427 ft (130 m) w/l[1]
Beam	57 ft (17 m)[1]
Draft	27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)[1]
Propulsion	Two oil-fired boilers Triple-expansion steam engine 2,500 hp (1,900 kW) Single screw
Speed	11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)[1]
Range	20,000 nmi (37,000 km; 23,000 mi)
Capacity	10,856 t (10,685 long tons) deadweight (DWT)[1]
Crew	81[1]
Armament	Stern-mounted 4 in (100 mm) deck gun for use against surfaced submarines, variety of anti-aircraft guns

Design

Main article: Liberty ship

Like other Liberty ships, she was 441 feet (134 m) long and 56 feet (17 m) wide, carried 9000 tons of cargo and had a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h). Most Liberty ships were named after prominent deceased Americans.^[2]

Construction and career

This particular ship was built by California Shipbuilding Corporation in Los Angeles. She was completed and commissioned in 1943.

After the war, she was sold to commercial service and renamed Atlantico in 1947.

Later again sold to Polish Steamship Company in 1963 and renamed Huta Ostroviec.

She was scrapped in 1973.^[3]