The SS Booker T. Washington was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Liberty ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

 laid down on 19 August 1942 and launched on 29 September. Of the 2,700 Liberty ships built, this was the first of 17 that were named after African Americans.

It is also notable that its first captain was Hugh Mulzac

Hugh Mulzac

Hugh Mulzac was an African-American member of the United States Merchant Marine. He earned a Master rating in 1918 which should have qualified him to command a ship, but this did not happen until September 29, 1942 because of racial discrimination.-Early life:Born on March 26, 1886 on Union...

, who was the first African American to command a ship in the United States Merchant Marine

United States Merchant Marine

The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...

. In 1942, the ship has an integrated crew of 18 nationalities. Between 1942 and 1947, it had made 22 round trip voyages ferrying troops and supplies to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and the Pacific theatre

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

.

The ship was sold to a private owner in 1947 and scrapped in 1969.

See also

• List of Liberty ships
• Maritime history of the United States

External links

• SS Booker T Washington Images at the U.S. National Archive
• African American Mariners at USMM.org