This *05 the Liberty Ship "Zebulon B, Vance" in August, 1942, fully loaded with cargo far Russio. She had already received her baptism of fire from
enemy oircroft on on eorlier trip, ond now wos headed ogain for the dreaded Murmansk run,-— (Coast Guard photo.)
Saga of the S.S. Zebulon B. Vance
The story of North Carolina Hull No. 1
from tlie cradle to the grave.
By ALEXANDER C. BROWN
Though old soldiers may never die,
but simply fade away, certainly old
shipbuilders die a little whenever one
of the vessels, to which they have lent
head, heart and hand to create, sails
over the horizon for the last time. So
it was, then, for a few old hands along
the Newport News waterfront, the de¬
parture of the steamer Zebulon B.
Vance brought nostalgic pangs.
What — and who, for that matter
— was Zebulon B. Vance?
Obviously this old and rust-streaked
Liberty ship which recently left Hamp¬
ton Roads ignominiously trailing along
at the end of a towline, bore no spe¬
cial outward distinction beyond seem¬
ing completely deserving of her fate
to be taken away for scrap. Indeed, as
built, she was actually a sister ship to
none less than 2,580 virtually identical
vessels, all hurried to completion dur¬
ing World War II and most of them
already gone. But this particular ship
carried to her end the name of one of
North Carolina’s most respected native
sons and she had been the first vessel
built for a vital Bridge of Ships ulti¬
mately measuring, bow to stern, some
21 miles in length. All of them had
m
been launched at Wilmington, N. C.
and these craft contributed a very con¬
siderable part toward the Allied victory
in the second World War.
New Shipbuilders
As war clouds were gathering over
Europe and Great Britain’s desperate
need for ships to maintain transoceanic
lifelines increased, the United States
recognized the acute necessity of build¬
ing up our own merchant fleet to help
her, lest the seemingly inevitable con¬
flict should embroil this nation as well.
Existing American shipyards — includ¬
ing Newport News — were already taxed
to capacity in turning out high priority
naval construction. The United States
Maritime Commission would have to
look elsewhere for its merchant ships
and so it was, then, that the govern¬
ment undertook to sponsor a series of
brand new shipbuilding establishments
Since 1946 the "Zeb Vane c" lay rusting ot the
James River Reserve Fleet Anchorage, until she
was said to on Italian firm far scrap eorlier this
year. — (Alexander Brown photo.)
to be devoted entirely to emergency
cargo vessel construction.
These plants were to be set up and
managed by existing shipyards and one
of the most important of them was the
North Carolina Shipbuilding Company
at Wilmington, spawned and nurtured
by the Newport News Shipbuilding and
Dry Dock Company. In the early ’40’s
some 400 key personnel were lent or
transferred from Newport News to Wil¬
mington, to head a labor force ulti¬
mately consisting of thousands of North
Carolinians. The Newport News visi¬
tors spent the entire five-year war pe¬
riod in Wilmington before returning
home. It was some of these men, then,
