View source for USAT Liberty

{{short description|United States Army cargo ship torpedoed by Japanese submarine and beached on the island of Bali. }}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USAT Liberty.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Liberty'' (ID # 3461) Fitting out at the yard of her builder, the Federal Shipbuilding Co., Kearny, New Jersey, circa September 1918. This freighter was in commission from October 1918 to May 1919.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1942}}
|Ship name=USS ''Liberty''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=*[[Federal Shipbuilding]]
*[[Kearny, New Jersey]]
|Ship yard number=1
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=19 June 1918
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=7 October 1918
|Ship decommissioned=7 May 1919
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=
|Ship honors=
|Ship fate=torpedoed by {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-166||2}}, 11 January 1942, and beached
|Ship status=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=
|Ship displacement=13,130 tons
|Ship length={{convert|411|ft|6|in|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|55|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|26|ft|6|in|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed={{convert|11|kn|km/h}}
|Ship complement=70
|Ship armament=1 × 6" gun, 1 × 3" gun
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USAT ''Liberty''''' was a [[United States Army]] [[cargo ship]] torpedoed by {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-166||2|up=yes}} in January 1942 and beached on the island of [[Bali]]. She had been built as a [[Design 1037 ship]] for the [[United States Shipping Board]] in  [[World War I]] and had served in the [[United States Navy]] in that war as animal transport '''USS ''Liberty'' (ID-3461)'''. She was also notable as the first ship constructed at [[Federal Shipbuilding]], [[Kearny, New Jersey]]. In 1963 a volcanic eruption moved the ship off the beach, and ''Liberty''{{'}}s wreck is now a popular [[Scuba diving|dive]] site.

==World War I==
''Liberty'' was launched on 19 June 1918 by the [[Federal Shipbuilding Company]] in [[Kearny, New Jersey]], and acquired by the [[United States Navy]] on 7 October 1918 and commissioned the same day with Lieutenant Commander Charles Longbottom in command. Assigned to the [[Naval Overseas Transportation Service]], ''Liberty'' departed the [[New York Navy Yard]] on 24 October 1918, arriving at [[Brest, France]], with her cargo of [[horse]]s on 8 November. Over the next 6 months, ''Liberty'' made two additional cruises from New York to France discharging both animal and general cargo at French ports. Loaded with 436 tons of [[U.S. Army]] cargo and 2,072 tons of steel rails, ''Liberty'' arrived at [[Newport News, Virginia]], on 30 April 1919 from her final cruise. She was decommissioned there on 7 May and was returned to the [[United States Shipping Board]] the same day.

==Between the wars==
On 20 October 1929, ''Liberty'' collided with the French [[Tugboat|tug]] {{Ship|ST|Dogue||2}} at [[Le Havre]], [[Seine Maritime]], [[France]]. ''Dogue'' sank with the loss of two crew members.<ref name=Times211029a>{{Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Casualty reports |day_of_week=Monday |date=21 October 1929 |page_number=23 |issue=45339 |column=F }}</ref>

On 23 November 1933, ''Liberty'' collided with the American [[cargo ship]] {{SS|Ohioan|1914|2}} in the [[Ambrose Channel]]. ''Ohioan'' was consequently beached near the [[West Bank Light]].<ref name=Times241133>{{Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=Two American steamers in collision |day_of_week=Friday |date=24 November 1933 |page_number=25 |issue=46610 |column=D }}</ref>

==World War II==
By 1939, ''Liberty''—although owned by the [[United States Maritime Commission]] (a successor to the USSB)—was employed by the [[Southgate-Nelson Corporation]] of [[Norfolk, Virginia]]. Southgate-Nelson was the operator of several [[packet lines]], including the [[American Hampton Roads Line]], the [[Yankee Line]], and the [[Oriole Lines]], but [[secondary source]]s do not indicate for which of these services ''Liberty'' sailed.<ref>Jordan, p. 418.</ref> In November 1940, ''Liberty'' was one of ten ships taken up by the [[United States Army]] for defense service.<ref name=LAT-SN194011>{{cite news |last=Cave |first=Wayne B. |title=Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=7 November 1940 |page=A12}}</ref><ref group=Note>The other nine ships taken up by the [[United States Army]] were {{USAT|Chirikof||2}}, {{USAT|Etolin||2}}, {{USAT|West Corum||2}}, {{SS|Waukegan||2}}, {{USAT|Edenton||2}}, {{SS|West Segovia||2}}, {{USAT|America||2}}, {{SS|President Roosevelt|1922|2}}, and {{SS|President Jefferson|1921|2}}. (see ref #4)</ref>

At the time of the United States' entry into World War II in December 1941, USAT ''Liberty'' was in the Pacific. In January 1942, she was en route from [[Australia]] to the [[Philippines]] with a cargo of railway parts and rubber. On 11 January, ''Liberty'' was torpedoed by {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-166||2|up=yes}} about {{convert|10|nmi|km}} southwest of the [[Lombok Strait]], near position {{coord|08|54|S|115|28|E}}. US [[destroyer]] {{USS|Paul Jones|DD-230|2}} and [[Netherlands|Dutch]] destroyer {{HNLMS|Van Ghent|1926|2}} took the damaged ship in tow attempting to reach Celukan bawang harbour at [[Singaraja]], the Dutch port and administrative centre for the [[Lesser Sunda Islands]], on the north coast of [[Bali]]. However she was taking too much water and so was beached on the eastern shore of Bali at [[Tulamben]] so that the cargo and fittings could be salvaged.

In 1963 the tremors associated with the eruption of [[Mount Agung]] caused the vessel to slip off the beach, and she now lies on a sand slope in {{convert|25|to|100|ft}} of water, providing one of the most popular dive sites off Bali.

The wreck of USAT ''Liberty'' is often misidentified as {{USAT|Liberty Glo}}<ref group=Note>{{SS|Liberty Glo}} was a [[Hog Islander]] built at the end of [[World War I]], but survived World War II to be scrapped in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], in November 1950.</ref> or identified by the misnomer, USS ''Liberty''. The wreck is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a [[Liberty ship]], through confusion of the ship's name with the class of World War II-built standard design cargo ships.

==Gallery of wreck pictures==
<gallery>
File:Liberty-wreck1.JPG|front 6-inch-gun
File:Liberty-wreck2.JPG|loading boom
File:Liberty-wreck3.JPG|partly collapsed hold
File:Liberty-wreck4.JPG|rail profiles heavily covered by corals
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160208061359/http://www.divingatbalishangrila.com/diving-bali.htm Diving at the USAT ''Liberty'']
* {{cite book |last=Jordan |first=Roger W. |title=The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars And Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships |publisher=Chatham |location=London |year=1999 |page=383 |isbn=1-86176-023-X}}
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l6/liberty-ii.htm}}
*[http://gekodivebali.com/bali-dive-sites/usat-liberty-shipwreck Info with photo and map of the ''Liberty'' at Tulamben]

{{Commons category|USAT Liberty (ship, 1918)}}
{{Design 1037 ships}}
{{1929 shipwrecks}}
{{1933 shipwrecks}}
{{January 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{1963 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|8|017|03|S|115|035|021|E|source:nlwiki_region:ID_scale:50000|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty (ID-3461)}}
[[Category:1918 ships]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Bali]]
[[Category:Design 1037 ships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1929]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1933]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in January 1942]]
[[Category:Ships built in Kearny, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by Japanese submarines]]
[[Category:Transport ships of the United States Army]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1963]]
[[Category:Wreck diving sites]]