Liberty ships were the cargo carriers of the war. They were standardized freighters, 441 feet long and of 10,800 tons capacity. They carried food stuffs and war materials abroad, and brought back such scarce items as chrome ore, balsa wood, copper, rubber, ivory, manganese, jute, burlap, hides, tea, coffee and quinine. They cost about $2 million apiece and this was the goal of 4-H bond sales.
In response to the name-a-ship campaign, the state 4-H youth intensified their war activities. Georgia club members raised almost $10 million in a war bond campaign and produced in one season enough food to fill a 10,000 ton ship. Their ship was launched and duly named "Hoke Smith," in honor of the co-sponsor of the Smith-Lever Act.
In South Carolina, similar efforts resulted in the launching of the "A. Frank Lever," thus commemorating on the high seas the other congressional sponsor of the original Extension Act. The Axis, sighting these names through submarine periscopes, may have wondered who these men were. Military heroes? Presidents? No. They were men with a dream of an independent, satisfying farm life, heroes of a working democracy.
4-H boys and girls in Washington State were credited with selling $3,370,000 worth of bonds in a single campaign. Their ship was named the "E. A. Bryan," after the late president of Washington State College.
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World War II Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O'Brien at Pier 45, Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California
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