The SS Red Oak Victory is the last remaining ship of the 747 vessels built at the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, Ca, during World War II. Commissioned by the U.S. Navy as the USS Red Oak Victory (AK-235), on December 5, 1944, she served as an ammunition ship in the South Pacific during the war.
Returned to the Maritime Commission after World War II, she intermittently served as a commercial cargo vessel with a Merchant Marine crew from 1947 to 1968. The SS Red Oak Victory provided supplies for United Nations forces during the Korean War and completed her career making thirteen voyages to Vietnam carrying supplies there for the U.S. military.
After 1968 she was retired to the "Mothball Fleet" in Suisun Bay, all but abandoned for almost thirty years. By an Act of Congress in 1966, the SS Red Oak Victory was saved from being scrapped and was turned over to the Richmond Museum Association. In 1998 she was moved to Point Richmond, Ca, and has been continuously maintained as a museum ship while the all-volunteer crew works on the goal of restoring the ship to an operational status once again.
E Clampus Vitus
Capitulus Redivivus Yerba Buena #1
Joaquin Murrieta Chapter 13
March 16, 2019
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