Liberty Ship: The Voyages of the John W. Brown, 1942-1946

The only book devoted exclusively to a single merchantman's seagoing career during World War II, this work describes the activities of the Liberty ship John W. Brown and of the Merchant Marine and Navy Armed Guard crews who manned the ship. As the author demonstrates in this thoroughly researched account, Liberty ships carried about two-thirds of the vital cargoes transported overseas during the war and played an indispensable role in landing and supplying the troops that defeated the Axis powers in Europe and Asia. This book is based on logs, official documents, and reports in the National Archives, on the collection of unpublished Navy administrative histories in the Navy Department library, and on diaries, letters, and recollections of men who sailed on the Brown. The insights derived from the author's interviews and correspondence with a number of the Brown's wartime Merchant and Navy Armed Guard crewmen add a personal dimension to the narrative. A fine collection of photographs supplements the text.