CONVOY MKS 25

The Forts and the Parks which were built by Canadian shipyards were essentially the same as the Liberties built by U.S. shipyards, being based on the same design from Thompsons and with a later variation which was slightly larger, like the U.S.'s Victories. 

There were also variations in propulsion systems and the Canadian yards built more riveted hulls, but the profile was much the same.  Of the 436 ships built under Government contracts, 321 were full-size freighters, 43 were smaller, built to the Gray design known as "Scandinavian" to make them more suitable for Great Lakes trading, 19 were completed as tankers, 35 were Ottawa-type coasters and 18 were Rock-class ocean tugs built to the British Warrior-class design. 

Note that the names Fort and Park had no reference to the designs: the Forts were the ships transferred to the British Government and the Parks were those employed by the Canadian Government. 

http://www.sunderlandmaritimeheritage.org.uk/Ships/Liberty%20Ships/history_david_aris.html

Yes, Bob, the bill was finally paid in 2006.  By 1941 Britain was technically broke and the German submarines were sinking ships quicker than they could be built.  Churchill obviously had a word with Roosevelt. It must have gone something like this....listen my Yankee friend, we are the last man standing in Europe. If we go down, you could be next, so bloody do something about it!!!.  Not so easy said Roosevelt, we have this Neutrality Act that forbids us from getting involved unless we are at risk.  Leave it with me and I'll see what we can do.  Anyway, our cousins across the ditch came up with the Lend Lease Act which circumvented the Neutrality Act. In a nutshell, goods, like ships, aircraft, ammunitions, food, trucks , tanks and all sorts of war material could be shipped to Britain, China, and later to Russia but paid for at the end of hostilities but where practical they were to be returned to the USA. As you can imagine this ran up a bill of many billions of dollars, but our Yankee friends discounted this by about 90% and spread the repayment over about 50 years at 2% interest, with a few years at the beginning to get our affairs in order. The surviving Liberty (Sam Boats), Victories, and Forts were returned and many were sold to the Greeks and Italians although a few went to British owners, I think Cunard had a few.  Many joined the US Stategic Reserve and rows and rows of them were moored in available creeks around New York, Baltimore, Philidelphia and Boston, and they were still there in 1956/57 when I worked the US East Coast in the MV Port Quebec.

i am sure there will be PWSTS old hands who worked on the Liberty ships which were known by the Brits as Sam Boats, and of course, the Forts, and T2 tankers. It would be interesting to hear of their experiences. Stu

Hello there

I did write to the city but had no reply so perhaps they do not know.