Launched at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in May 1945, the SS Maritime Victory (V-821) suffered a relatively late conversion from a cargo ship to a troop transport in the context of the end of the war in Europe prompting the AWD to focus on carrying GIs back to America instead of munitions and other war materiel to French harbors. Between summer ’45 and spring ’47, she made nearly two dozen voyages across the Atlantic, transporting soldiers, MPs, as well as humanitarian aid like potato seeds.
She mothballed at Beaumont Reserve as part of the reserve fleet and was renamed Pvt. Frederick C. Murphy in 1950. Between 1983 and 1990 she played the role of utility ship for the reserve but she's left in disrepair soon after. As of early 2010, the ship could still be seen afloat at Beaumont but we really wouldn’t recommend exploring her beat down corridors. Large quantities of asbestos were used for the construction of the ship and given her current status the interior could be heavily contaminated.
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