Leonidas Raptakis Rhode Island State Senator

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Leonidas RaptakisRhode Island State Senator

• United States Embassy
• Athens, Greece
• December 9, 2007

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Returning to Greece Liberty Ship Project
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Preserving Hellenic Maritime History
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Saving the Last Liberty Ship

• Hellenic-American Legislators hail passage of
  measure to donate last Liberty ship, SS Arthur M.
  Huddell, to Greece.

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• The Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the
  United States during World War II. They were
  British in conception but adapted by the U.S.A.,
  cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize
  U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels
  ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by
  German U-boats, they were purchased for the U.S.
  fleet and for lend-lease provision to Britain.
  Eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Liberties
  between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number
  of navy ships produced to a single design.

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• Designed as cheap and quickly built cargo
  steamers, the Liberty ships formed
• the backbone of a massive sealift of troops,
  arms, material and ordnance to
• every theater of war. Two-thirds of all the
  cargo that left the United States during
• the war was shipped in Liberty ships. Two hundred
  of them were sunk by enemy
• action, but there were simply so many of them
  that the enemy could never hope
• to sink enough Liberty ships to close the sea
  lanes, and the supplies got through.
• Class EC2-S-C1 Type Liberty Ship Launched
  September 27, 1942 At Bethlehem-Fairfield
  Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland
• Length 441 feet, 6 inches Beam 57 feet
  Draft 27 feet, 9 inches Displacement
  14,245 tons Gross 7,176 tons Capacity
  8,500 long tons Armament Three 3-inch/50
  caliber guns one 5-inch/50 caliber gun
• eight 20mm guns

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Why The Last Liberty Ship Should Be Brought Home
To Greece

• The Hellenic Merchant Marine suffered heavily
  during World War II.
• Out of 539 ships under the Greek Flag, only 121
  ships remained by 1945.
• Over 2000 national seafarers lost their
  lives and over 2,500 severely injured.
• In 1946 ,Greek owners acquired 100 Liberty
  Ships from U.S. surplus which played a valuable
  contribution to the resurgence of the war
  stricken fleet.
• Greece and its merchant fleet contributed
  heavily to the Allied effort to provide the flow
  of vital supplies throughout the war.
• Liberty Ships contributed to the rebuilding
  of Greece after World War II and the Greek Civil
  War.

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The Liberty Ship should become a museum and
living memorial to honor Hellenic Seafarers
throughout its history

• Berthed in Faliron as an addition to the current
  historical Hellenic ships.
• Allow young and old to experience and preserve
  Greeces historical
• Merchant history.
• Collect and preserve artifacts of Greeces
  contribution during World
• War II and beyond.
• Create a public education program for young
  people .
• Present museum quality exhibits and partnership
  with the Hellenic
• Maritime Museum.

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Current Liberty Ship Museums

• Out of 2,751 Liberty Ships constructed, only
  three exist today in the world and are presently
  located in the United States.

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John W. BrownBaltimore, Maryland
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Jeremiah O,BrianSan Francisco, California
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Arthur Huddell (Eleftheria, Liberty Hellas ?)
James River, Virginia
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Arthur M. Huddell, James River Virginia, Aft View
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Arthur M. Huddell, James River Virginia August
2007
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Issues of Concern for Liberty Project

• U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2006
• Requires some ship repairs in U.S.
• Environmental Protection Agency Regulations
• Funding for testing of PCBs secured and
  completed analysis September 30, 2007
• Funding to tow and refurbish vessel
• Permanent location as Museum
• Funding for Museum

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Public and Private Partnership

• Unknown private funding for museum
• Unknown Hellenic Government funding
• Need for Ministries to partnership
• (Mercantile, Defense, Tourism and Cultural)
• Partnership with local municipality
• Partnership with Hellenic Maritime Museum

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Liberty Ship Project Outlook

• Project cost for conversion to a museum 5
  million
• Amount raised as of November 30,2007 1.5
  million
• Strengthen the continuing partnership between the
  United States of America and the Hellenic
  Republic
• Greece with the United States as the only two
  countries in the world to preserve maritime
  history of the Liberty ships
• Role of present Hellenic Ship-owners in
  preserving maritime heritage in Greece