HELLAS LIBERTY

• Introduction:

Last Sunday, I had the great pleasure to participate in a well-organized and highly interesting activity of the Pire-A-ctive voluntary group; The purpose of this meeting was to visit a memorial ship (museum ship) called "Hellas Liberty", based at Piraeus central port, right next to the old port Grain Warehouses - SILOs, on the well known Ietionia Coast. In the current post, I'd like to present my impressions from the aforementioned visit, as seen through my photo lens.

Read this post in Greek language by clicking here.

• History Review:

The word "Liberty" is an international term which means "freedom"; This term has been strictly associated with a special kind of steam-powered cargo ships, with a displacement of aproximately 11.000 tons deadweight, which were built in the United States during World War II based on a british concept. This kind of vessel, commonly known as Liberty, has then become the symbol of the US American postwar industry. Between 1941 and 1945, eighteen American shipyards built 2.751 Liberty ships in order to be able to satisfy the transportation needs of both the USA and Great Britain. It is commonly known that Great Britain's commercial fleet had suffered some extensive damage during war operations. 

Source: Wikipedia

More than 2.400 Liberty ships survived the war. Of these, 100 were offered to greek ship owners (Niarchos, Onassis, Kouloukountis, Goulandris family, Karras, Chandris family) as a "loan"* after the end of World War II, helping them to build their maritime empires as well as the greek marine industry to bounce back. Later on, 526 ships were acquired by greek entrepreneurs and well known shipping magnates like Theodorakopoulos, Onassis, Niarchos, Livanos, Andreadis, Tsavliris and many more. Those ships have been in service for many decades.

* The initial "loan" of ships has to be examined as a part of the whole US diplomacy in that specific era. We should not forget that after the end of World War II, the USA have introduced the Marshall Plan in order to be able to achieve and secure their geopolitical interests. 

• Hellas Liberty

"Hellas Liberty", formely known as SS Arthur M Huddel, (IMO: 5025706) is a Liberty ship launched in 1943 by St. John's River Shipbuilding. She was converted to a pipe carrier in 1944 and was used in the construction of a fuel pipeline under the English Channel following the Normandy landings. After the war she was chartered by AT&T in 1956 and was converted to a cable ship. In 1957 she was transferred to the US reserve fleet until 1964. Later she was classified as a barge and again laid up at James River in 1983. After that date many components, including the rudder, were removed and used as spare parts for other ships. In 2008 the ship was towed to Greece in order to be converted into a memorial ship (museum ship). After many general repairs and conversions which took place at Perama and Salamis during 2009 and 2010, the ship gained the actual appearence and it was renamed "Hellas Liberty". 

The next image shows the vessel as seen in the port of Piraeus after its arrival from the USA. 

Source: Wikipedia

• Sunday, February the 26th, 2012

The first thing upon my arrival on "Hellas Liberty" was to attend a brief but highly instructive audiovisual presentation relevant to the ship and its history, which took place in a specially redesigned space, inside the ship's former tween deck:

This redesigned space is decorated with more than one hundred small frames, where all Liberty ships offered to Greece after World War II are presented:

The next frame here below has a particular importance as it shows the ship named "Georgios F. Andreadis" whcih happened to be the very first Liberty loaned to Greece.

In the next image, we may see a tween deck as well as some wooden hatchways which were used to separate this deck from the main hold: 

Just take a look on the handles of these old and battered wooden hatchways: 

An emergency exit catches my eye:

And my meandering through the ship's corridors begins:

Stop No.1: The Engine Room

Some wide angle shots as well as some detailled ones are presented here below:

Once upon a time, those boilers used to feed the ship's steam engine of 2500HP, catching a speed of 10 to 11,5 knots max. 

I have been enjoying my wandering around the engine room corridors, climbing these narrow ladders up and down but at the very same time, I was thinking that when the ship's engines were in service back then, the temperature would have been extremely high and the whole atmosphere rather uncomfortable down there.

I then got back to another redesigned area of the ship were maritime objects are exposed: magnetic and gyroscopic compasses, sextants, old navigation tools, engine order telegraphs, measuring instruments and many more which have been mainly offered by old sailormen. A wooden inscription with the ship's former name "SS Arthur M. Huddell" is placed right in the middle of the room. 

I took one last look upon those sophisticated old-style switches and I found my way out to the lateral boat's deck: 

The lifeboat is in its proper place:

A quick look towards the ship's poop which is situated under the shadow of the old port tower SILO:

I then noticed a rope ladder on the weather deck:

After reentering the living deck, I began a new walkabout through the ship's main and auxiliary spaces: 

Some really small details attracted my attention:

After taking a quick look into the crew's humble and rather small cabins, I then stopped in the Chief Engineer's cabin which consisted of an office, a bedroom and a bathroom.

Remark: all furniture are obviously new!

While heading to the main bridge, I stopped outside the captain's cabin:

Air-condition? Well, you haven't been properly informed... 

Welcome to the 1940s... 

In almost every space there is a wall clock.

The vessel's Radio Station, back then, when there were no satellites, telecommunication systems, GPS and all the modern-era technological improvements has been the unique way of communicating with the rest of the world: 

Τhe Chart Room was that specific area designated for maps studying and route planning, situated right next to the main bridge; there was also a small window connecting the chart room with the main bridge:

My next stop is on the main bridge which loos quite simple if compared with modern ship bridges:

The upper deck offered some great views, not only upon the ship's main deck but also upon Piraeus main port: 

The ship's funnel featuring the greek flag painted on it:

A few last "clicks" before abandoning the ship: 

I say goodbye to "Hellas Liberty" by presenting two photos, one showing her bow and the other one showing her prow:

To sum up, if you ever find yourself in the port of Piraeus, Greece, it would be really worthy to visit the "Hellas Liberty" memorial ship; It is a way to get to know about a ship, which became a symbol of the postwar evolution for the greek as well as for the global merchant marine industry.

Read this post in Greek language by clicking here.

References:

• Λίμπερτυ (Wikipedia)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_ship
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Arthur_M._Huddell

Photography:

• The first two photos appearing in this post have been taken from Wikipedia
• The rest of the photos appearing in this post belong to my personal collections and are copyright protected (All Rights Reserved)