SS Jeremiah O'Brien is a Liberty ship built during World War II and named after the American Revolutionary War ship captain Jeremiah O'Brien (1744–1818).

Now based in San Francisco, she is a rare survivor of the 6,939-ship 6 June 1944 D-Day armada off the coast of Normandy, France.

Of the 2,710 Liberty ships that were built, only the Jeremiah O'Brien and the (both operational as of 2024) and the (a static museum ship) are still afloat.

History

World War II

Jeremiah O'Brien is a class EC2-S-CI ship, built in just 56 days at the New England Shipbuilding Corporation in South Portland, Maine and launched on 19 June 1943. Deployed in the European Theater of Operations, she made four round-trip convoy crossings of the Atlantic and was part of the Operation Neptune invasion fleet armada on D-Day. She made 11 cross-channel round-trips to support the invasion.

Jeremiah O'Brien then moved to Fort Mason on the San Francisco waterfront just to the west of Fisherman's Wharf to become a museum ship dedicated to the men and women who built and sailed with the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. She was named a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1984 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. Licensed to carry tours around San Francisco Bay, it was suggested that the ship be restored to oceangoing specification. After efforts in securing sponsorship, this was accomplished in time for the 50th "D-Day" Anniversary Celebrations in 1994.

50th Anniversary of D-Day

In 1994, Jeremiah O'Brien steamed through the Golden Gate bound for France. She went down the West Coast, through the Panama Canal, and crossed the Atlantic for the first time since World War II. She stopped first in London, England, where she was berthed adjacent to HMS Belfast, then went on to Portsmouth for the D-Day +50 celebrations before she continued on to Normandy, where Jeremiah O'Brien and her crew (a volunteer crew of veteran World War II-era sailors and a few cadets from the California Maritime Academy) participated in the 50th Anniversary of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Western Europe. She was the only large ship from the original Normandy flotilla to return for the event.

Today

Docked at Pier 35, she makes several passenger-carrying daylight cruises each year in the San Francisco Bay, and occasional voyages to more distant ports such as Seattle and San Diego.

Footage of the ship's engine was used in the 1997 film Titanic to depict the ill-fated ship's own triple-expansion engines. The engine is very similar to the engines on board the RMS Titanic; two of her engines were triple expansion marine steam engines, albeit Titanic engines were four cylinders as opposed to three.

The ship is completely restored to its original World War II configuration. During that same year, Tim Ferriss hosted a party aboard the ship to celebrate the success of his LitLiberation project.

On 23 May 2020, Jeremiah O'Brien and USS Pampanito were threatened by a 4-alarm fire at a warehouse structure next to where Jeremiah O'Brien was berthed at San Francisco's Pier 45, but both vessels were undamaged due to the actions of the local firefighters. The fireboat St. Francis is credited with saving the ship. This relocation was made permanent in 2023 when the nonprofit organization responsible for the ship signed a long-term lease at Pier 35 with the Port of San Francisco.

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File:SS Jeremiah O'Brien at Pier 35.agr.jpg|Jeremiah O'Brien at its new home at Pier 35, San Francisco, California

File:O'brien underway.jpg|Jeremiah O'Brien under way in San Pablo Bay on 27 August 2005, as seen from the aft steering station

File:S.S. Jeremiah OBrien, Polynesian fantasy.jpg|Polynesian fantasy pinups painted on Jeremiah O'Brien bow for her maiden voyage. Found beneath later paint, they were restored during the ship's 1990s restoration

File:WWII_Liberty_Ship_"SS_Jeremiah_O'Brien"_engine_room_status_board_while_underway.jpg|Engine room status board seen while underway

File:Jeremiah O'Brien (IMO 5171749).jpg|Jeremiah O'Brien arriving at Chatham (UK), 8 June 1994

File:Jeremiah_O.Brien_Steam_Whistle_2022.jpg|Jeremiah O'Brien steam whistle

</gallery>

See also

  • Liberty ship
  • List of Liberty ships
  • Nash – last surviving D-Day Army ship
  • Victory ship

Notes

References