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54-664: SS Hampden-Sydney Victory was a Victory ship constructed in Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore , Maryland . Given the hull number 839, Hampden-Sydney Victory was the 76th Victory ship, a series of relatively cheap, swiftly-built cargo ships designed to support the Allied war effort during World War II. She was launched on 14 July 1945, and formally entered service with the U.S. Merchant Marine on 22 August 1945. She served until 1946, when she

108-554: A 20 mm caliber cannon, known now as the 20 mm Becker using the advanced primer ignition blowback (API blowback) method of operation. This used a 20×70mmRB cartridge and had a cyclic rate of fire of 300 rpm. It was used on a limited scale as an aircraft gun on Luftstreitkräfte warplanes, and an anti-aircraft gun towards the end of that war. Because the Treaty of Versailles banned further production of such weapons in Germany,

162-455: A bow-mounted 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun and eight 20 mm cannon for use against aircraft. These were manned by United States Navy Armed Guard personnel. The VC2-S-AP5 Haskell -class attack transports were armed with the 5-inch stern gun, one quad 40 mm Bofors cannon , four dual 40 mm Bofors cannon, and ten single 20 mm cannon. The Haskell s were operated and crewed exclusively by U.S. Navy personnel. The Victory ship

216-472: A careful balance between the force of the shell being fired and the operational timing of the mechanism. In the Oerlikon designs, these timing demands resulted in a relatively slow-cycling weapon. As a response to this demand, Oerlikon developed "power reserve loading" action, introducing a gas-operated mechanism to unlock the breech. The gun produced to this design after the close of hostilities of WW2, and

270-822: A further 132 vessels, although three were completed in 1946 for the Alcoa Steamship Company, making a total built in the United States of 534, made up of: Of the wartime construction, 414 were of the standard cargo variant and 117 were attack transports. Because the Atlantic battle had been won by the time the first of the Victory ships appeared none were sunk by U-boats. Three were sunk by Japanese kamikaze attack in April 1945. Many Victory ships were converted to troopships to bring US soldiers home at

324-467: A locking mechanism, a fairly heavy bolt must be employed; while to give this heavy bolt sufficient forward speed, a large spring is required (and Oerlikons, distinctively, have this component wrapped around their barrels.) These features will limit the rate of fire of such guns, unless other steps are taken—as in the final model of the Japanese 99 Mark 2 . This unique chamber and bolt design necessitates

378-586: A more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship , were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engines, giving higher speed to allow participation in high-speed convoys and make them more difficult targets for German U-boats . A total of 531 Victory ships were built in between 1944 and 1946. One of the first acts of the United States War Shipping Administration upon its formation in February 1942

432-483: A raised forecastle and a more sophisticated hull shape to help achieve the higher speed, they had a quite different appearance from Liberty ships. To make them less vulnerable to U-boat attacks, Victory ships made 15 to 17 knots (28 to 31 km/h), 4 to 6 knots (7.4 to 11.1 km/h) faster than the Libertys, and had longer range. The extra speed was achieved through more modern, efficient engines. Rather than

486-523: A rate of fire of 500 rpm. And the FFS, which weighed 39 kg, delivered a high muzzle velocity of 830 m/s at a rate of 470 rpm. Apart from changes to the design of the guns for wing-mounting and remote control, larger drums were introduced as it would not be possible to exchange magazines in flight. For the FF series 45, 60, 75 and 100 (and a rarely used 150) drum magazines were available, but most users chose

540-414: A reduced rate of fire (280 rpm). The purpose of this development was to improve the performance of the gun as an anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon, which required a higher muzzle velocity. An improved version known as the 1S followed in 1930. Three sizes of gun with their different ammunition and barrel length, but very similar mechanisms, continued to be developed in parallel. In 1930 Oerlikon reconsidered

594-493: A second advantage of this unusual arrangement is that after firing the bolt and case have a short, but significant, distance to travel rearwards before the bolt-end re-emerges and the case in turn begins to leave the chamber; and this in combination with the retardation of the rearward travel provides sufficient time for gas pressure to drop to the necessary safe level. This system permits blowback to be used in far more powerful weapons than normal. Nevertheless, compared to guns with

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648-443: Is free-swinging on a fixed pedestal mounting with a flat armored shield affording some protection for the crew. The cannon is aimed and fired by a gunner using, in its simplest form, a ring-and-bead sight . The gunner is attached to the weapon by a waist-belt and shoulder supports. For this reason, some mountings existed with a height-adjustment feature to compensate for different sized gunners. A "piece chief" designates targets and

702-414: Is required, as with such low-power cartridges the static inertia of the bolt or bolt and slide - the physical tendency of heavy components to resist rapid acceleration - is adequate to ensure that the projectile has left the muzzle and the gas pressure in the barrel is down to a safe level before the breech opens (while the bolt spring also resists the opening of the breech, in practical terms its contribution

756-399: Is too small to be relevant). In contrast, 20mm cartridges are far too powerful, and efficient autocannon barrels too long, for this basic system to be practical; so the Oerlikon uses Advanced Primer Ignition (API) to augment the resistance of the bolt. In API blowback weapons, the firing pin fires the cartridge while the bolt is still traveling forward so that the gas pressure has to overcome

810-448: The 3"/50 Mark 22 gun . It provided a useful increase in firepower over the .50 cal machine gun when adapted and fitted to some aircraft. However, it had some problems with jamming in the ammunition feed. The Royal Canadian Navy popularised the use of the Oerlikon gun as an anti-ship and anti-submarine gun – while it was not effective against the armour of most larger ships, it was used extensively and effectively against U-boats , and on

864-632: The Bofors 40/L60 40 mm gun from 1943, although many squadrons retained a mix of guns until the end of World War 2. Squadrons in the Far East were equipped exclusively with Oerlikons. The Oerlikon gun was installed aboard United States Navy ships from 1942, replacing the M2 Browning machine gun , which lacked range and firepower, and largely superseding the 1.1"/75 caliber gun , which was heavier and had less mechanical reliability. It became famous in

918-588: The Bureau of Indian Affairs as North Star III . AP3 types South Bend Victory and Tuskegee Victory were converted in 1957–58 to ocean hydrographic surveying ships USNS Bowditch and Dutton , respectively. Dutton aided in locating the lost hydrogen bomb following the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash . Starting in 1959, several were removed from the reserve fleet and refitted for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration . One such ship

972-563: The Emergency Shipbuilding program . The design was an enhancement of the Liberty ship, which had been successfully produced in extraordinary numbers. Victory ships were slightly larger than Liberty ships, 14 feet (4.3 m) longer at 455 feet (139 m), 6 feet (1.8 m) wider at 62 ft (19 m), and drawing one foot more at 28 feet (8.5 m) loaded. Displacement was up just under 1,000 tons, to 15,200. With

1026-597: The Imperial Japanese Navy , after evaluating all three guns, ordered developments of the FF and FFL as the Type 99-1 and Type 99-2 . The incorporation of the improvements of the FFS in a new anti-aircraft gun produced, in 1938, the Oerlikon SS . Oerlikon realized further improvements in rate of fire on the 1SS of 1942, and the 2SS of 1945 which achieved 650 rpm. However, it was the original SS gun which

1080-644: The Korean War and a 100 Victory ships served in the Vietnam War . Many were sold and became commercial cargo ships and a few commercial passenger ships . Some were laid up in the United States Navy reserve fleets and then scrapped or reused. Many saw postwar conversion and various uses for years afterward. The single VC2-M-AP4 Diesel-powered MV Emory Victory operated in Alaskan waters for

1134-513: The Zürich suburb of Oerlikon where it was based, then acquired all rights to the weapon, plus the manufacturing equipment and the employees of SEMAG. In 1927 the Oerlikon S was added to the existing product line. This fired a still larger cartridge (20x110RB) to achieve a muzzle velocity of 830 m/s (versus 490 m/s for the original Becker 20x70RB gun), at the cost of increased weight and

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1188-565: The fall of France in June 1940, only 109 guns reached the United Kingdom. All Oerlikon guns imported from Switzerland, in 1940, were mounted on various gun carriages to serve as light AA-guns on land. Just a few weeks before the fall of France, the Oerlikon factory approved manufacture of their gun in the United Kingdom, under licence. The Royal Navy managed to smuggle out the necessary drawings and documents from Zürich . The production of

1242-523: The 1960s two Victory ships were reactivated and converted to technical research ships by the U.S. Navy with the hull type AGTR. SS  Iran Victory became USS  Belmont and SS Simmons Victory became USS  Liberty . Liberty was attacked and severely damaged by Israeli forces in June 1967 and subsequently decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register . Belmont was decommissioned and stricken in 1970. Baton Rouge Victory

1296-556: The 30 or 60-round drum. The 1930s were a period of global re-armament, and a number of foreign firms took licenses for the Oerlikon family of aircraft cannon. In France, Hispano-Suiza manufactured development of the FFS as the Hispano-Suiza HS.7 and Hispano-Suiza HS.9, for installation between the cylinder banks of its V-12 engines . In Germany, Ikaria further developed the FF gun as the MG FF , firing 20x80RB ammunition. And

1350-465: The Libertys' 2,500 horsepower (1,900 kW) triple expansion steam engines , Victory ships were designed to use either Lentz type reciprocating steam engines (one ship only, oil fired), Diesel engines (one ship) or steam turbines (the rest, all oil fired) (variously putting out between 6,000 and 8,500 hp (4,500 and 6,300 kW)). Another improvement was electrically powered auxiliary equipment, rather than steam-driven machinery. To prevent

1404-529: The Mediterranean. It was also placed experimentally on the battleships Arkansas , Colorado , Maryland , West Virginia , Washington , Massachusetts , and training ship Wyoming . Although guns with blowback action had played an important part in WW2, it was obvious that something better was needed, especially for the universal demand for a high rate of fire. The blowback mechanism requires

1458-635: The Oerlikon cannon were used much more extensively, on aircraft, on ships and on land. In the air, the Ikaria MG FF was used as armament on a number of German aircraft, of which the most famous is the Messerschmitt Bf 109 . The Japanese Navy similarly used their copy of the FF, designated the Type 99 Mark 1 cannon on a number of types including the Mitsubishi A6M Zero . Later in the war, they also equipped fighters including

1512-666: The Royal Navy, advocated within the Royal Navy to set up an unprejudiced trial for the Oerlikon 20 mm gun, but was unsuccessful. It was not until the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet , Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse , was appointed First Sea Lord that Mountbatten's efforts bore fruit. During the first half of 1939 a contract for 1,500 guns was placed in Switzerland. However, due to delays and then later

1566-464: The Zero with the Type 99 Mark 2 , a version of the more powerful and faster-firing Oerlikon FFL. The French firm of Hispano-Suiza was a manufacturer of aircraft engines, and it marketed the moteur-canon combination of its 12X and 12Y engines with a H.S.7 or H.S.9 cannon installed between the cylinder banks. The gun fired through the hollow propeller hub, this being elevated above the crankcase by

1620-540: The application of its gun in aircraft and introduced the AF and AL , designed to be used in flexible mounts , i.e. manually aimed by a gunner. The 15-round box magazine used by earlier versions of the gun was replaced by drum magazine holding 15 or 30 rounds. In 1935 it made an important step by introducing a series of guns designed to be mounted in or on the wings of fighter aircraft. Designated with FF for Flügelfest meaning 'wing-mounted', these weapons were again available in

1674-399: The chamber. To ease the motion of the case, the ammunition needed to be greased, which was a drawback of the Oerlikon cannon. An alternative developed during World War II was the so-called fluted chamber, which had grooves that allowed propellant gas to seep between the chamber wall and the case, taking over the role of the grease. Ammunition feed is typically by a 60-round drum magazine on

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1728-553: The decks of larger ships. A handful of corvettes were fitted with the weapon toward the end of the war, but it appeared more commonly on frigates and destroyers at the time. The Oerlikon was also used as the basis for the Polsten gun, designed by Polish engineers in exile in the United Kingdom. The gun went into service in 1944, and was used well into the 1950s, among other uses, on Cromwell tanks and early model Centurion tanks . Romania purchased 45 pieces from Germany during

1782-576: The design of the gearing. Such armament was installed on the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 and some other types. Similar German installations of the MG FF were not successful. The Oerlikon became best known in its naval applications. Initially the Oerlikon was not looked upon favorably by the Royal Navy as a short-range anti-aircraft gun. In 1937–1938 Lord Louis Mountbatten , then a captain in

1836-652: The end of World War II as part of Operation Magic Carpet . A total of 97 Victory ships were converted to carry up to 1,600 soldiers. To convert the ships the cargo holds were converted to bunk beds and hammocks stacked three high for hot bunking . Mess halls and exercise places were also added. Some examples of Victory troopship are: SS  Aiken Victory , SS  Chanute Victory , SS  Cody Victory , SS  Colby Victory , SS  Cranston Victory , SS  Gustavus Victory , SS  Hagerstown Victory , SS  Maritime Victory , and SS  U.S.S.R. Victory . Some 184 Victory ships served in

1890-507: The feeder changes exhausted magazines. During World War II, twin and quadruple Oerlikon mounts were developed, both for army and for navy use. The British Navy operated a hydraulically operated twin-gun mount. The US Navy operated a quad mount developed for PT boats by Elco Naval Division, Electric Boat Company, called the Elco "Thunderbolt" mount. Prototypes were built and tested in late 1942 and operationally deployed on several Elco PT Boats in

1944-637: The first British-made Oerlikon guns started in Ruislip , London , at the end of 1940. The first guns were delivered to the Royal Navy in March or April, 1941. The RAF Regiment made extensive use of Oerlikon guns in the anti-aircraft role. These were the principal armament for its light anti-aircraft squadrons in North Africa, the Middle East, Italy, and north western Europe, until the introduction of

1998-513: The first half of World War II. It is still in use today on some naval units, nominally as a last-recourse anti-air weapon, but mainly used for firing warning shots or incapacitating small vessels. Unlike most high-powered autocannons, the Oerlikon and its derivatives have a blowback mechanism: the bolt is not locked to the breech of the gun at the moment of firing. Non-locking, simple blowback designs are commonplace in much lighter weapons, such as small-caliber semi-automatic pistols. No locking

2052-416: The force of the propellant gases until the latter overcome the former and start pushing case, bolt and spring backwards. If the bolt had stopped at the mouth of the chamber as in a simple blowback gun, this momentum would have been neutralized; instead thanks to the continuous movement the momentum acts to counter the propellant gases and slow the rearward travel of cartridge and bolt. Synergistically with this,

2106-399: The forward momentum of the bolt as well, before it can push it to the rear. To facilitate this, the Oerlikon's chamber is longer than needed to contain the cartridge, and the front-end of the bolt, which is the same diameter as the case, actually enters this extended chamber behind the cartridge before firing. As a result when firing occurs, the forward force of the bolt and spring acts against

2160-438: The hull cracks that many Liberty ships developed—making some break in half—the spacing between frames was widened from 30 inches (760 mm) to 36 inches (910 mm), making the ships less stiff and more able to flex. Like Liberty ships, the hull was welded rather than riveted. The VC2-S-AP2, VC2-S-AP3, and VC2-M-AP4 were armed with a 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber stern gun for use against submarines and surface ships, and

2214-466: The naval anti-aircraft role, providing an effective defense at short ranges (in practice up to 1.5 km) at which heavier guns had difficulty tracking a target. The gun was eventually abandoned as a major anti-air weapon due to its lack of stopping power against heavy aircraft and against Japanese kamikaze attacks during the Pacific War . It was largely superseded by the Bofors 40 mm gun and

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2268-508: The patents and design works were transferred in 1919 to the Swiss firm SEMAG ( Seebach Maschinenbau Aktien Gesellschaft ) based near Zürich . SEMAG continued development of the weapon, and in 1924 had produced the SEMAG L , a heavier weapon (43 kg) that fired more powerful 20×100mmRB ammunition at a slightly higher rate of fire, 350 rpm. In 1924, SEMAG failed. The Oerlikon firm, named after

2322-438: The remainder given miscellaneous names. The AP5 type attack transports were named after United States counties , without "Victory" in their name, with the exception of USS  Marvin H. McIntyre , which was named after President Roosevelt's late personal secretary. Although initial deliveries were slow—only 15 had been delivered by May 1944—by the end of the war 531 had been constructed. The Commission cancelled orders for

2376-450: The three sizes, with designations FF , FFL and FFS . The FF fired a slightly larger cartridge than the AF, 20x72RB, but the major improvement in these weapons was a significant increase in rate of fire. The FF weighed 24 kg and achieved a muzzle velocity of 550 to 600 m/s with a rate of fire of 520 rpm. The FFL of 30 kg fired a projectile at a muzzle velocity of 675 m/s with

2430-432: The top of the gun. During sustained firing, the magazine must be frequently changed, reducing the effective rate of fire. Belt-fed versions of the gun were developed to overcome this limitation. A trigger in the right-hand grip controls fire. Used cartridges are ejected from below the breech. Different nations and services operated a number of mounting types for the same basic gun. In a typical single-barrel naval version, it

2484-405: The use of a characteristically shaped cartridge: the case has straight sides, very little neck, and a rebated rim . The straight sides allows the case to slide back and forward in the cylindrical chamber. The neck is not supported while this happens and therefore expands when the case is fired, and the rebated rim allows the face of the bolt, with its extractor claw hooked over the rim, to fit within

2538-653: Was SS  Kingsport Victory , which was renamed USNS  Kingsport and converted into the world's first satellite communications ship. Another was the former Haiti Victory , which recovered the first man-made object to return from orbit, the nose cone of Discoverer 13 , on 11 August 1960. USS  Sherburne was converted in 1969–1970 to the range instrumentation ship USNS  Range Sentinel for downrange tracking of ballistic missile tests. Four Victory ships became fleet ballistic missile cargo ships transporting torpedoes, Poseidon missiles , packaged petroleum, and spare parts to deployed submarine tenders : In

2592-418: Was SS  United Victory launched at Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation on 12 January 1944 and completed on 28 February 1944, making her maiden voyage a month later. American vessels frequently had a name incorporating the word "Victory". After United Victory , the next 34 vessels were named after allied countries , the following 218 after American cities, the next 150 after educational institutions and

2646-457: Was designed to be able to be assembled by the smallest capacity crane at these shipyards. Three are preserved as museum ships : See also, similar role:- Empire ship , Fort ship , Park ship , Ocean ship . See also, similar role:- Empire ship , Fort ship , Park ship , Ocean ship . Oerlikon 20 mm cannon During World War I , the German industrialist Reinhold Becker developed

2700-538: Was noted for good proportion of cubic between holds for a cargo ship of its day. A Victory ship's cargo hold one, two and five hatches are single rigged with a capacity of 70,400, 76,700, and 69,500 bale cubic feet respectively. Victory ships hold three and four hatches are double rigged with a capacity of 136,100 and 100,300 bale cubic feet respectively. Victory ships have built-in mast , booms and derrick cranes and can load and unload their own cargo without dock side cranes or gantry if needed. The first vessel

2754-819: Was sunk in the Mekong delta by a Viet Cong mine in August 1966 and temporarily blocked the channel to Saigon . According to the War Production Board minutes in 1943, the Victory Ship had a relative cost of $ 238 per deadweight ton (10,500 deadweight tonnage ) for $ 2,522,800, equivalent to $ 35,500,000 in 2023. Most Victory ships were constructed in six West Coast and one Baltimore emergency shipyards that were set up in World War II to build Liberty, Victory, and other ships. The Victory ship

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2808-511: Was to commission the design of what came to be known as the Victory class. Initially designated EC2-S-AP1, where EC2 = Emergency Cargo, type 2 (Load Waterline Length between 400 and 450 feet (120 and 140 m)), S = steam propulsion with AP1 = one aft propeller (EC2-S-C1 had been the designation of the Liberty ship design), it was changed to VC2-S-AP1 before the name "Victory Ship" was officially adopted on 28 April 1943. The ships were built under

2862-828: Was transferred over to the Reserve Fleet, and sold to the Republic of Turkey on 24 November 1947. She was named for Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden Sydney , Virginia , which is named for John Hampden and Algernon Sidney , two prominent heroes of the Parliamentary side of the English Civil War . Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were

2916-473: Was widely adopted as anti-aircraft gun, being especially widely used by Allied navies during World War II . This gun used a 400-grain (26-gram) charge of IMR 4831 smokeless powder to propel a 2,000-grain (130-gram) projectile at 2,800 feet (850 meters) per second. The Oerlikon FF was installed as armament on some fighters of the 1930s, such as the Polish PZL P.24 G. Locally produced derivatives of

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