Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 21, 1945 In the final year of World War II, a U.S. Navy transport ship was launched in a Sunday ceremony at a Kaiser Shipbuilding yard in Richmond, California. This ship was named after Andre Walker Brewster (1862-1942), a U.S. Army major general and Medal of Honor recipient. Walker’s noteworthy assignments during his long... Continue Reading →
January 9, 1916 SS Duilio was launched at the Ansaldo Shipyard in the city of Genoa in northwestern Italy. This ship was the first Italian super ocean liner and ultimately became one of that country’s largest vessels. The Duilio was built for use by the Italian shipping company Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI). The vessel’s name was... Continue Reading →
December 23, 1944 A little over three years after the United States entered World War II on the side of the Allies, the U.S. Navy rescue and salvage ship USS Bolster (ARS-38) was launched at a shipyard of the Basalt Rock Company. This company, which was located just south of the San Francisco Bay Area’s... Continue Reading →
December 5, 1931 The luxury ocean liner SS Manhattan, which had been built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, was launched in Camden, New Jersey. Former First Lady Edith Roosevelt (1861-1948), widow of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), christened the ship with a bottle containing water taken from various streams throughout the country. This United States Lines... Continue Reading →
October 30, 1982 USNS Zeus (T-ARC-7), the first cable ship specifically built for the U.S. Navy, was launched at the shipyard of the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego. (USNS stands for "United States Navy Ship"; this prefix is used for non-commissioned vessels that are owned by the Navy but operated by a... Continue Reading →
October 8, 1974 The hydrographic survey vessel Ammiraglio Magnaghi (A 5303) was launched into Mediterranean Sea at Riva Trigoso, a frazione (subdivision) of northwestern Italy’s town and comune of Sestri Levante. (“Ammiraglio” is the Italian word for “admiral.”) This ship was the first survey vessel to be both designed and constructed entirely in Italy for... Continue Reading →
September 30, 1862 Nearly a year-and-a-half after the start of the American Civil War, the Union Navy (the name for the U.S. Navy during that military conflict) acquired the side-wheel steamer Red Rover as part of its fleet. Red Rover became this military branch’s first vessel used specifically as a hospital ship. Red Rover had... Continue Reading →
August 28, 1858 A corvette (small warship) built for the British Royal Navy (RN) was launched at Sheerness Dockyard, which was located at the mouth of the River Medway in southeastern England. The afternoon ceremony for HMS (Her Majesty’s Ship) Clio was described in effusive terms by the London-based Standard. This newspaper reported, “The launch of... Continue Reading →
August 22, 1945 A cargo ship named after the capital of Louisiana was launched at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore. SS Baton Rouge Victory was one of the vessels known as Victory ships. A large number of these ships were built during World War II to help transport cargo for the United States in its global... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1964 USNS Thomas G. Thompson (T-AGOR-9), a U.S. Navy oceanographic research vessel, was launched at 10:50 a.m. into Menominee River at the Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in the city of Marinette, Wisconsin. (The prefix USNS stands for “United States Naval Ship” and is used to identify non-commissioned vessels that belong to the Navy.)... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 